The Way You Help Me
by katiesquilts
Summary: Chihiro's gotten use to her new life, and is surprised when Haku suddenly shows up. She must help Haku with a problem at the bath house, and this experience can only bring them closer. ChihiroxHaku !complete!
1. Chapter 1

Feh. Really, the things I do. This is actually an anime movie, so I didn't have it on my list. I bet you guys are thinkin, "She's never going to get all that anime off of her list!" And, you may be right. I keep getting distracted. But, since this IS anime, and even though it isn't officially on the list, I am obliged to write it because I had a great idea for it.

Also, another note on that damned list. I think the more anime I eliminate from it, the more I put on. As for anime movies, I'd have to write all about Howl's Moving Castle, Princess Mononoke, Castle in the Sky, The Cat Returns, etc...the list goes on forever.

So, without further ado, I present...Kay-chan's **The Way You Help Me**!

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Chihiro was adapting to her new life, her new home, and her new school quite well. She had made a few friends, and in the first few weeks of moving, she had been enthusiastic to help her parents unpack all of the cardboard boxes they had brought with them from their last home. Her parents, of course, had notice the change, and were very glad Chihiro had matured into a young lady, even if she was still a little moody at times.

3 months. She had been living in her new town for exactly 3 months. She had been in school for only 2 months. And for the past month, Chihiro had been having vivid dreams of Haku, Lin, Yubaba, No Face, Zeniba (or Granny, as Chihiro liked to call her), and all of her other friends from the bath house. Some of the dreams were memories, and others were just like dreams. Chihiro had had to tell herself several times that her adventures at the bath house _hadn't_ been a big, unbelieveable, dream.

So, that morning as she got ready for school, Chihiro replayed last night's dream in her head. It had been the memory of her last, parting moments with Haku. She had asked him if they'd ever see each other again. He had promised her they would. But could she really believe that? Slinging her backpack over her shoulder, Chihiro smoother her school uniform and picked up a piece of toast from a smal pile on the table. Chihiro looked at the piece of toast and wished she had waited to brush her teeth. It didn't really make sense for her to brush her teeth and _then_ eat, now, did it?

"Chihiro, honey, you better be getting to school soon! You don't want to be late, do you?" Chihiro rolled her eyes at her mom, and then shouted back, "Yeah, Mom, I'm leaving right now!"

Chihiro pulled on her shoes and was ready to wlak out the door when her mom appeared and gave her a big hug. "Don't forget, your father and I have to work late today, so you'll be home by yourself for an hour or two. I'll hurry home, though, okay?"

"Okay, Mom," Chihiro said through her mouthful of toast. Pulling open the door, Chihiro waved and said, "I'll see you later." Mrs. Ogini waved back and then shut the door once her daughter reached the sidewalk.

Chihiro hummed quietly to herself as she walked to school, devouring her toast in the first 2 minutes. Her bookbag was heavy, and that slowed her down a bit. Luckily, her school wasn't that far away. From a few blocks down, the girl could already see large groups of students heading through the large oaken doors to the elementary school. Looking to her left, Chihiro gazed down into the valley of condos easily seen from the school's high vantage poit. Sadly, she thought, _That's where they filled in the Kohaku River. Haku and I would be able to live so close if it weren't for all of those people living there. _

As Chihiro turned the corner to walk into the school, she was startled with the loud announcement of the late bell. Jumping, she frantically ran past the oaken doors her classmates had entered through and skidded down the hallways, up several flights of stairs, and down an annoyingly long corridor, only to stop in front of her classroom door.

Slamming open the door, Chihiro immediately started apologizing for being late. "Mr. Namatsuki, I'm really, really, REALLY sorry for being late, I--"

Mr. Namatsuki waved his hand impatiently. "Go sit down, Chihiro," he said in a bored voice. "You're late just about every day, you should know the drill by now."

Several kids snickered as Chihiro turned red. Taking her empty seat in the second row down, and to the right side (closest to the door), Chihiro dumped her bookbag at her feet and attempted to to calm her breathing. Mr Namatsuki continued on with what he was saying, as though the whole thing hadn't happened.

"And, as I was saying, we're going to have a new student this year." Chihiro's head popped up. She stared expectantly at the door, as though the student had yet to come in. "This, class, is Haku Nushi." The class clapped, and Chihiro realized her mistake. Her gaze wandered to the front of the class, where a boy around her height with shoulder-length black hair stood, staring back at her.

"Haku..." she whispered. There was no doubt about it, it was _definitely_ Haku. Unfortunately for Chihiro, the boy next to her heard her whispered remark and took no time in shouting, "Aww...Chihiro's madly in love with Haku! You know what they say, it's always love at first sight!"

Mr. Namatsuki threw the boy a dirty look and the entire class grew silent, after a good bout of laughter. "Well then, Chihiro can just show Haku around the school then, huh?" Snickers abounded, but Haku's and Chihiro's eyelock did not break.

Mr. Namatsuki pointed out a seat in the back of the room, almost as far away from Chihiro as possible, it seemed. "That, Haku, may be you rseat. Now, I'd like the entire class to take out their Math books, and turn them to page 67. Today we'll be learning how to solve multi-step equations..."

Chihiro watched Haku as he made his way to his new seat, her eyes never leaving him. _Lucky Haku, _she thought. _You got the window seat I've been wanting for so long._ _But, Haku, tell me. Why are you here?_

Chhiro shook her head to clear it and rummaged in her backpack for the Math hardback. Turning to the correct page, she dazed off, putting on a fake face of concentration as she pretended to take notes. _I have to show him around the school, _she thought lazily, _so when we have to go to our next class, I'll ask him. Maybe we'll have classes together. Or maybe I should wait until lunch to ask him, so that we have more time. I can't wait to talk to him! Those three months, what has he been doing? And why the heck is he here? Well, isn't he free from the bath house? I guess that means he can leave whenever..._"

"Chihiro!" Mr. Namatsuki barked. Chihiro sat up straight. "Yes sir?" she asked half-heartedly.

Mr. Namatsuki sighed. "Please, _please _pay attention in class." Chihiro's face drooped, and she muttered an apology. "And while you're at it, answer number 21 on page 73."

Chihiro found the problem. "Eh?" she asked quietly. Mr. Namatsuki looked at her expectantly, so Chihiro sighed and answered the question to the best she could. "Well, after you times 5 by -4, you get u + 12 -20. Then you subract 12 from both sides and u -8."

Mr. Namatsuki smiled at Chihiro. "That's a good try, Chihiro, but you forgot one thing. Because you _subracted_ 12, and 20 was already a negative, you add a negative and a negative together, so the answer would be -32. You just got switched up a little."

"Oh," Chihiro uttered. She had forgotten that. But, even Mr. Namatsuki had said it. She had been close.

"Now, Yamaki, please do number 22." Mr. Namatsuki continued the class, and this time Chihiro actually tried to pay attention. That was, until she felt eyes watching her. Turning her head slightly, Chihiro looked into the back of the classroom and came face-to-face with Haku. The boy was staring at her with his calm, green eyes. Then, as though ignoring her, he turned and looked out the window, where the valley of condos were clearly visable.

Chihiro frowned and looked down at her textbook. Was Haku mad at her? Was he _trying_ to ignore her, to make her feel bad? Chihiro could have cried right then, but she held back her tears. She was already made fun of by the rest of the class enough. Besides, even though Haku had seen her cry before, and had even cried _with_ her when he rememebred his real name, Chihiro did not want to cry in front of the boy. It would make her feel weak. Weaker than she knew she already was.

When the bell rang, Chihiro was miserable. She had spent a lot of her energy on keeping in tears, and she wordlessly gathered all of her books and dropped them into her bookbag, picking that up to and walking with the rest of the class to the door. A hand stopped her right before she was about to go through, though.

"I hope you don't mind showing me around," a quiet voice said. Chihiro tingled. That same voice had played through her head several times the night before, and the whole of the month.

Chihiro turned to look up at Haku. "Of course not!" she said in what she hoped was a cheerful voice. Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw the sadness in Haku's eyes. Had that emotion been there earlier? Chuckling a little to easy her own feelings, Chihiro asked, "But can I put my bookbag in my locker first? I don't want to carry it around." Haku nodded his head to show he didn't care, adn then the two stepped out into the hallway that was already full enough with students rushing to get to their next class.

"So, Haku, what's your next class?" Chihiro asked when they reached her locker. Putting in the combination and opening the door, Chihiro almost dropped her books when it was slammed shut right in her face.

"Hey, Chihiro," Akito asked, leaning up against the locker to the left of Chihiro's. Haku frowned from Chihiro's right, and Chihiro was stuck in the middle. "Whatcha doing with this new boy? Why don't you come hang out with me during lunch, kay? Get away from that weirdo over there?" Akito nodded in Haku's direction, but the black-haired boy was emotionless.

Chihiro scowled in Akito's face. "Hey!" she said. "I just got that open!"

"I know, that's why I closed it," Akito grinned. He loved it when Chihiro was mad at him, because her face was so cute. That was why he, the school bully, chose to pick on her specifically.

"Dummy," Chihiro mumbled, getting to work on her lock again. While she busied herself with opening the locker, Chihiro asked Haku again, "Haku, what was your next class?"

Haku responded this time in his low, calm voice, "Science." It was all he uttered.

Akito laughed at Haku's short response. "You are one weird kid," he told Haku. Chihiro listened to Akito's comment and it made her mess up the last number on her lock. Growling, she turned to Haku and pointed down the hallway, to the right. "The Science room is the last one on the left. I'll meet you there in a minute, because I have that class too." Then, she turned back to the lock and started again.

"I can wait," Haku said quietly. Akito laughed again. Chihiro looked up from the lock and asked, "Are you sure? I mean, I'll probably make you late!" Haku shrugged his shoulders, as though it didn't matter, and leaned against the locker to Chihiro's right.

Akito raised his eyebrow at this and asked in a mocking voice, "What? Are you trying to be cool like me, little man?" Akito slicked back his shiny, dark brown hair, and Haku felt the urge to twitch at the disgusting sight.

"No," Haku replied, a defiant look on his face. "I can't think of one reason I'd like to be a person like you."

Chihiro opened her locker with a resounding, "Ahah!" She was completely oblivious to the stares Akito and Haku were giving each other. Taking out her books, Chihiro shut her backpack into the locker and grabbed Haku's hand, pulling him off in the direction of the Science room. They entered the room just as the bell rang.

"Chihiro! What's your excuse this time?" Mrs.Nakamura asked the girl. The teacher hadn't taken roll call yet, so she did not know they had a new student.

"Locker troubles!" Chihiro said quickly, pulling Haku with her to the only open lab counter. The Science room also doubled as the Chemistry room, so everyday students had to manuever their way around beakers, test tubes, and the dangerous chemicals sometimes left out by the earlier class's students.

Mrs. Nakamura sighed. Chihiro was always late to her class, and everyday she had a good excuse. Mrs. Nakamura always believed Chihiro, because she had witnessed some of Chihiro's troubles herself. The older woman knew how Chihiro was Akito's favorite "plaything". Reading the names for roll call, Mrs. Nakamura just went on with class as though Chihiro had actually been on time. At the bottom of the list was a new name, however.

"Haku Nushi? Who the heck is he?" Nakamura looked up from her clipboard and finally noticed the boy that had come in with Chihiro. "Oh. I see we have a new student. Who's in charge of showing him around?"

Chihiro raised her hand shakily. Mrs. Nakamura should have known; it was sort of obvious because the two had walked in together. "Alright, Chihiro, you get to tell him all the rules and guidelines...things of that nature." Addressing the rest of the class, Mrs. Nakamura clapped her hands and announced, "Today we'll be pairing up to create 3-D replicas of DNA." Groans were heard throughout the room, but the artists in the class just smiled and shook their heads at their silly classmates.

Mrs. Nakamura let the kids choose their own partners, and Chihiro instantly turned to Haku. "I'm so glad you're back!" she whispered. Haku's eyes grew wide, and then he let a small smile play on his lips.

Chihiro caught Mrs. Nakamura looking in her direction, so she immediately started to list off the class rules. "Um, so, the first rule in here in that you shouldn't touch anything unless your told to, and you shouldn't do anything unless Mrs. Nakamura says so. Ah, and always get your homework done, listen in class..." Chihiro breathed in a sigh of relief when Nakamura looked away.

Going back to their previous conversation, Chihiro asked Haku, "So, why are you here? Is everything at the bath house alright? Or did you leave there?"

Haku shook his head and put a hand on Chihiro's shoulder. His voice was dead serious wen he said, "Chihiro, there's something I need to ask of you, but not right now. I don't want to risk anyone else overhearing, and we need to work on whatever project Mrs. Nakamura has planned for us."

"How about we talk about it during lunch?"

"Yes, that'll work. So, what's DNA?"

Chihiro's stomach flipped. "D-DNA?" she asked faintly. "Well..."

Chihiro had a lot of explaining to do...

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Aw, poor Haku. He's going to have a hard time understanding everything, because I don't think they had things like electronics and algebra in the spirit world. So, in the next chap, you'll learn why Haku is in Chihiro's world. Also, could someone tell me his real hair color? I thought it was green at first, but because he would be made fun of in school, I decided his hair was more of a dark brown. Googling it, half the pictures his hair is brown, the other half it's black. So, I stuck with black, because Akito's hair is brown.

By the way, Akito's an OC, but he doesn't have any romantic ties to the story. Even if he's a major character. (Shush, I never said that.)


	2. Chapter 2

Aww!!!! I wuvvles you all! Thanksies for all of the nice, shiny reviews! I know I'm a pig, though, because I want more reviews! I shall not be satisfied! I feel so selfish! But, oh well! LOL, I really AM selfish.

Ok, hakulover88 says Haku's hair is really dark green, so I'm going to keep it to black. Like I said earlier, I don't want him to be made fun of for his oddly colored hair.

I wonder if I could rent that movie? I haven't seen it in a while, and the only reason I thought of making a fanfic for it was because I printed off the sheet music for one of hte main song themes. (It's for piano, email me if you want the sheets! - )

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Chihiro sighed in relief when the bell rang, signaling lunch. It seemed that she was always paired with Haku, and even though both were hard workers, the projects they did were always only half done. The DNA project was only 5 nitrogen links long, instead of 10, and the compostition they had to write in Literature still needed a few more paragraphs to make it long enough, single-spaced.

That didn't really matter, though. Chihiro was really, truly happy, because she was able to spend time with the boy she had missed so much for those 3 months. Chihiro could feel her anxiety rising as she pulled Haku up the steps to the roof, stopping only long enough to grab her bento from her locker.

Stepping out into the crisp mid-morning air, Chihiro breathed in deeply and turned to face Haku. Flinging her bento off to the ground beside her, the small girl grasped Haku into a tight bear hug. She let her face rest on his shoulder, tears threatening to fall from her brown eyes. Chihiro was a bit shocked to feel arms come up, wrapping themselves around her small form.

"I'm glad you're back, Haku," Chihiro said in a small voice, but her voice was muffled from the cloth in her face.

"I'm just glad you haven't forgotten me." Chihiro gasped at the boy's warm reply, and she lifted her head to look up into his eyes.

"Why..no, _how_ could I forget about you, or Lin, or anyone else form the Spirit World?" Haku must have noticed that Chihiro was on the verge of tears, because he shushed her and let a hand push her head gently back into his chest.

"Chihiro," Haku began hesitantly, "There _is_ a reason I'm here, besides to see you."

Chihiro turned her head so that only one side of her face was pushed up to Haku. "Yeah, you said something about that earlier. Is there something wrong at the bath house?"

Haku pushed his friend away and held her tightly by the shoulders at arms length. His voice was shaking a tad bit when he said, "Let's sit down. It might take a while to explain."

Chihiro nodded and dragged Haku over to the edge of the roof, where they could sit and lean against the railing, all while taking in the beautiful scenery. Chihiro opened her bento and offered it to Haku. "Would you like some?" she asked politely.

Haku shook his head no, and Chihiro lowered the food into her lap. She didn't seem hungry all of a sudden.

"Chihiro, could you ever imagine Yubaba being replaced?" Haku asked dreamily, as though he weren't totally in focus at the moment. Chihiro thought for a moment, and then truthfully shook her head no. Haku sighed, and Chihiro sensed that the long part of the explanation was coming up soon.

"Well, you see, about a week or two after you left, Yubaba became desperately ill. She must of suffered for those last few weeks of her life," Haku said quietly. Chihiro shivered as an unkind image entered her mind, and she tugged on Haku's sleeve. "Haku, please, continue."

Haku blinked, and then lapsed back into his story. "A few days after the ceremony to mourn her death, a strange man appeared in front of the bath house. He claimed to be Yubaba's husband, but the thing is, nobody has ever met the man before. No one can even believe Yubaba actually married him. The problem is, Kosuke, the man, believes he rightfully inherits the bath house."

Chihiro broke in with, "But, wouldn't Boh be the first to inherit it?"

Haku made a face. Even with that ugly frown on his face, Chihiro thought he looked beautiful, with his hair swaying in the breeze and his features sharp in the Sun's glorious light. "Of course he would, but Kosuke's taken over the bath house completely, and he treats the employees like slaves, instead of real sprits. Yubaba and Zeniba attempting to work together couldn't have been worse."

Chihiro leaned against the railing behind her. The cold iron seeped through her school jacket, and it felt surprisingly good. "How are you going to stop him?" she asked. She wasn't all that good at these sorts of problems.

Hakuleaned in to Chihiro and looked deeply into her eyes. "I came here to ask you that," he said.

Chihiro looked away, a slight blush forming on her cheeks. "I have no idea," she murmured. Glancing at the watch she was wearing Chiho sighed and stood up. "We have to get going, the bell will ring soon. But, Haku, one last quick question."

"What?" Haku asked, getting up and following Chihiro through the roof door down onto the staircase.

"Where are you living while you're in this world?" Chihiro's qustion surprised Haku, and he had to think about it for a minute before shrugging. "No clue," he said.

Chihiro sighed and rolled her eyes. "My parents are working late, so you can come over after school and we can take the time to think about our...problem." Haku noticed how careful Chihiro was with her words around her fellow classmates. Haku nodded his agreement and then walked off to his next class. Chihiro watched the boy wistfully, wishing she had that period with him, but alas, she didn't.

After collecting her books from her locker, Chihiro stalked off to her next class. Haku had relayed the ever-so-important information to her in a manner that made her think like it wasn't as important as it sounded. How was a new owner of the bath house going to affect him? Haku was free from his bondage, wasn't he? Even though the others were being treated mercilessly, Haku should have been away from the bath house a long time ago.

_He didn't have anywhere to __go_Chihiro thought sadly as she walked through the classroom door. Chihiro didn't even notice who she sad down in front of when she took her seat, just before the bell rang.

"Hey, babe," a stunning slick voice said from behind her, making her jump. Unknowingly, Chihiro had unconsciously sat down in front of the school bully himself, Akito. "Why didn't you come to have lunch with me? I missed you, you know?"

Chihiro gave a quiet, mock laugh. "Yeah right. And for your information, I was having lunch with Haku. He's a much better lunch-partner than you could ever be!" Akito looked offended for a moment, but the teacher rapped her ruler on her desk, making Chihiro look back towards the front of the room.

"Alright then, class, let's open our school books to the poem we were reading yesterday. Can I please get someone to read the third line, and decipher its meaning? Ah, Ms. Chihiro, please?"

Chihiro blinked. She hadn't raised her hadn't to be called on. Oh, well. Reading the third line, Chihiro was puzzled. "And within his veins, the answer came, like a dog to its master."

"Hmm," the teacher said. "I don't think that's enough. Keep reading, please."

Chihiro didn't get the poem at all. "To trust, loyalty and love unwavering; that the two could get through together, as one droplet of blood, heading to the heart."

"Alright, Chihiro, what do you make of that exert?"

"I have no clue," Chihiro said flatly.

"Oh, come now," her teacher encouraged. "The author talks about two things getting along very well. They also talk about blood, and a heart. What could you infer about the two people?"

"I don't know," Chihiro mumbled. "It sort of sounds like the two people are in love, but I don't think a dog and a person would be in love," she said, refering to the example in the poem.

The teacher laughed. "No, that just shows that the people are very close, like a person and a dog that they have spent their whole life around and trust dearly. There are some people that are born blind, and use dogs that have been trained to help them manuever around in tight places. Imagine how helpless that person would feel if they were accidentally seperated from their dog?"

Chihiro thought hard. "So, two people who have to work together might have the possibilty of falling in love with them?"

The teacher smiled. "Yes, that's exactly it. Because, if you truly care about someone, and are willing to put yourself in harm's way for them, then you could truly love them in your heart."

Chihiro was silent for hte rest of the class period as she pondered the idea that had been planted in her head. She and Haku had wokred hard to free each other from the bath house, hadn't they? But, they hadn't fallen in love. Right? Chihiro didn't actually_ love _Haku, did she? They were only friends, nothing more!

Or, were they?

Chihiro shook her head in fristration as the bell ring to let them out to their 4th period. Chihiro had gym, and she wasn't looking forward to running out in the cold, frigid air. Why did it seem to get colder during the middle of the day? Wasn't it normal for it to be colder at night and in the early morning?

Haku was already waiting at her locker for her. "I have gym, but I don't know where to go," he said simply as he moved aside for her to work on her combination.

"I'll take you there," she said. "It's odd how our schedules match up." Haku must have sensed Chihiro's troubles, because after the girl grabbed her gym bag, he pulled her over to an empty hallway and tilted her chin up so that he could get a better look at her.

"What's wrong? You aren't acting right," Haku told her. Chihiro only frowned. There was no way she was going to ask him whether they were in love or not. Still, his warm hands on her chilly face felt good, and instead of shaking them off, she only turned to go down the right hallway.

"Come on," she said softly, mad at herself for acting so selfish. "We still have to get changed for gym and stuff." Haku watched Chihiro's back for a moment before he followed after her. Now he had his own problems, and they involved finding out what was wrong with the girl.

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Chihiro's thoughts were blank as she led Haku out onto the track and, ultimately, the gym area. Pointing out the boys' locker room, she entered the girls' locker room and stepped past all the chatty girls to the locker she never used anyway. It had the same combo as her school locker, and Chihiro really only used it to keep her volleyball pads and her gym shoes inside, so that she could not forget them at home. She also kept a bottle of water that she refilled every day, and a small package of hairbands. It wasn't that she herself use the hairbands, because she still had the perfectly good one her Granny had made for her, but the other girls were always forgetting their own bands, so she let them borrow from her.

Chihiro opened her locker and pulled out her gym uniform. Without even thinking, she stripped and changed, quickly checking herself in the mirror before drinking from her water bottle, handing out the daily hairbands (they each had their own headbands, and just kept them in Chihiro's locker for safekeeping), and then she stepped outside.

Chihiro could already see that she was the first girl out. Most, if not all, of the boys were already out, passing balls back and forth, or just pleasantly chatting the way only guys can do. One guy stood out from the crowds, though. When Chihiro realized it was Haku, she immediately made her way over to him.

"Are you ready for pure torture?" she asked with a half smile. Haku looked down at her with puzzlement in his eyes. Chihiro laughed, and joked, "You'll see!"

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Yeah! LOL. My volleyball team keeps a package of socks in our locker room, because everyone always forgets to bring a pair! We even went as far as to write our names and stuff on the bottom, so that's where I got the idea! I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it's somewhat long, (I think).

Plz review! I wuvvles all of you who review!

Oh, and you DEFINITELY want to read the next chapter! It's going to be VERY cute. So, put me on your alert list! Author alert would be smart, but if you only really care about Spirited Away, story alert is okay too!


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, okay, I'll admit it. I really REALLY want to skip to the end of the day. But, I think I have one more thing I want to put in the school day, even if I can't remember what it is! Just bear with me, okay? I'm trying so hard!

Thank you for all of the reviews, by the way! I wonder how long it will take to get into the hundreds? It it ever gets that far! Maybe a year, maybe a month? I hope only a month, because I should have the story up all the way by the end of _next_ month. I hope. Maybe. I have no clue.

Anyway, I don't own Spirited Away. Hayao Miyazaki does! I love the guy! He rocks! His movies are so cool! Anyway, on to the 3rd chapter!

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Chihiro and Haku ran around the track, steps taken in unison. Chihiro hadn't been kidding when she said he was in for pure torture. The gym teacher _must_ have been in the military at some point or another. Not even Yubaba had worked him _this_ hard. To maintain his dragon form, Haku had to exert energy in large quantities. He also had to have lots of stamina, and he built both by training privately with Yubaba. A twang panged in Haku's heart when he thought of the old witch. He had despised her when she had been alive, but if he had known she would one day die, right in front of him, he would have cherished the good moments they shared much more.

Haku faltered a step as his heart skipped a beat. He caught the concerned look Chihiro gave him, and was secretly proud of the girl. She was keeping up well, and she had definitely matured since they had last seen each other. Physically _and_ mentally. Haku got caught up in all the memories they had made together, and he had to shake himself to pay attention to his running.

Chihiro had caught the falter in Haku's step and gave him a quick glance. Was something wrong? The boy's face held a pained look, and Chihiro had to look away again. It hurt her to know that one of her friends was troubled, and she was afraid that if she poked, she would make it worse. Chihiro shivered as the cold air hit the sweat that lined her brow and the back of her neck.

Soon, the whole class finished 5 laps around the track. Chihiro bent down and puffed cold air into her lungs, freezing them and making them hurt like crazy. Haku joined her, although his breathing was less labored, because he had the more endurance.

"Alright, you sissies! Pair up and do group stretches!" the teacher boomed.

"Mr Ibiki is evil!" Chihiro whispered to Haku secretly. (See if you recognize the name!)

Haku gave a short chuckle and stood up. "What are group stretches?" he asked after a moment.

"Oh, well, um, there are a lot of poses you do, like in yoga or pilates, but basically when you have a partner, you work like a muscle. One person is extending and stretching while the other is resting." Chihiro pointed out several groups that were already stretching and named the poses that they were doing. "We don't have to do the uncomfortable ones, though, because there are really some poses you should do with someone of the same gender!" Chihiro finished with a slight laugh.

Haku shrugged, he got what she was saying. "I can lead you through the poses, if you need help, though," Chihiro said reassuringly.

(Um, I don't really know any of the poses except for one, and that's the one you should REALLY do with someone of the same gender! Or a boyfriend/girfriend...so! We shall time skip!)

Once Haku and Chihiro were properly stretched, they joined the class in a line in front of Mr. Ibiki. "Okay then! Today we'll be playing soccer, boys against girls!" Half of the girls groaned; the boys were rough when they played soccer! Mr. Ibiki continued, reading off a list of names from his clipboard. "Ayame, Yuri, Sakura, Yoko, Dai, Etsu, Chika, Hisa, Riku, Kaide, and Chihiro! I want you all on the girl's team. Play any position you want! For the boy's team, we'll have Ringo, Kisho, Hatsuhara, Haku, Tomo, Yogi, Akito, Kyo (LOL, recognizing any names?), Takai, Mamoru, and Roni. Same goes for you. Rest of you, on the bench!"

The two teams jogged onto the soccer field and promptly filled all positions.Chihiro was worried that Haku wouldn't know how to play, but the boy looked confident. Looking at the boy's team, Chihiro's eyes met with Akito's, and the boy gave her a grin and a seducive wink. Chihro let out a sound of disgust and looked back at Haku. She was amazed at the boy's confidence. Where had he learned to play, really?

Mr. Ibiki checked the positions and then started the game with a blow of his whistle. Chihiro immediately shot forward and got the ball for her team, passing it back and forth with one of the best friends, Riku. Riku had kept Chihiro after school several days, just to play friendly games of soccer, and they had worked out maneuvers just for gym class.

Riku kicked the ball towards the goal, but it was stopped by Akito. The jock kicked the ball in front of him, relaying it to the other side of the field. But when Riku and Dai paired up to try and take the ball back, Akito unexpectedly passed it to Haku, who shot it towards the girls' goal and made it, scoring the boys the first point.

Chihiro gaped at Haku's good shot. When he turned, she waved at him and gave him the thumbs up sign, mouthing the words, "That was great!" Haku smiled and nodded. Chihiro just sighed when he broke eye contact to get back into the game. She supposed he was just like any guy...they get swept up in the game and nobody can break their concentration.

The game was pretty much that same move over and over again. A few times, a girl would intercept the ball just as Haku was getting prepared to kick it, but thpse times were rare, and the boys would immediately chase the ball back down and pass it to Haku, who would just shrug and score another goal.

When the score was 15 to 3, boys leading, obviously, Ibiki called the students in and put in the rest of the students to play a second game. Chihiro caught up to Haku and gave him a light hug. "That was great! Where'd you learn to play like that?" she asked, once she pulled away.

Haku shrugged and sat down on the ground, patting the ground next to him for Chihiro to sit down. She did, and Haku said, "I don't know, it sort of came naturally. Well, I was also watching out the window in first period," he admited shame-faced, "but besides that, I guessed."

"You're a good guesser!" Chihiro said, giggling. The two were silent for a moment, and Chihiro began to pick at the grass. In a solemn voice, she asked, "Haku, do you remember the grass on the first day we met? When we were hiding, and you gave me that little piece of candy to stop me from disappearing?"

Haku turned to Chihiro, a surprised expression on his face. Where had that question come from? Thinking back, he couldn't remember much of anything, besides the conversation they had had, and Yubaba flying in the air above them. Yes, he remembered they had been hiding behind a wooden fence, and he had brought a small piece of candy from the kitchens for her. But the scenery? He had been focusing on her terrified little face, while he watched and scouted for anything that might make their escapade complicated. "Not really," he said as an answer. "I was focusing on other things."

Chihiro's voice was soft, "I do. The grass was black when you look at it, because it was dark. The grass closer to the riverbank was shining with water, and the lights from the ferryboat made it look almost mystical. I don't know why, but it held my gaze longer than anything."

"You have a good memory," Haku joked. For some reason, the topic seemed uncomfortable.

Chihiro brightened, and a smile graced her lips. "Better than yours, oh water spirit?"

"Much better!" Haku laughed. He liked laughing with Chihiro, it warmed his heart. He also liked Chihiro's laugh solo; it had a special tinkle to it that made it specially hers.

Haku and Chihiro sat back and watched the second soccer match together. This time, the score was much closer, 7-5. The boys had won again, much to the girls' dismay. Ibiki ordered the kids to change and head back to the school building, because the bell would be ringing soon. Haku and Chihiro parted ways, promising to meet up back at Chihiro's locker.

Chihiro changed and went through the daily ritual of collecting the hairbands, put everything back into her locker and shut it, joining Dai and Riku as they walked back to the school building. Riku and Dai acknowledged her, but because she did not immediately say anything, they assumed she did not want to take part in their conversation, so they let her think on her own.

Chihiro listened to the girls chat about the game, and parted ways with them when she walked throught the school doors. She usually only walked with them to avoid Akito, who wouldn't bother her if she was with a group of other girls.

Haku was already waiting at Chihiro's locker, and she wondered how he had gotten there so fast. "One more period!" she said cheerfully. "What do you have?"

"History," Haku replied. His voice was plain, and Chihiro caught his eyes wandering to the people that walked by them.

"Really? I have that too! One moment," Chihiro opened her locker and grabbed her History book. Closing her locker, she looked at Haku's empty hands and asked, "Where are all your books, anyway?"

"I keep them in my bag," Haku shrugged.

"Which is where?"

"Right now? In my locker. I haven't gotten my History book yet, so I don't need anything from my bag."

Chihiro rolled her eyes. "Come on, follow me. Maybe we can get seats that are next to each other if we hurry." She stalked off in the direction of the Science room, and Haku just nonchalantly followed behind. When Chihiro opened the History room door, however, her wish of getting close seats was dashed. There were _no_ empty seats in the room at _all_.

"What the?" Chihiro began.

"Mr. Imotsuke, what's going on?" one of the students demanded. They too didn't have a seat.

"We're going to be having a few student teachers in the classroom for the next week or so, so there will be a shortage of chairs. You three students may sit on the floor near the windows." Mr. Imotsuke pointed to the previously mentioned student, Haku, and Chihiro. Each of the students complied, taking spots next to each other with their backs to the wall. Chihiro caught herself squisked in the middle fo the two, and one of the students must have seen her face, because they giggled. Chihiro listened closely, and realized it was Rizu's giggle. _Oh, that's right! Rizu has this class with me! Darn it! Why's she giggling, anyway? It's not funny! I'm being squished beween two guys!_

Mr. Imotsuke started the class a moment later, totally ignoring the giggles that had erupted from Riku's giggle. He turned to the chalkboard and began writing important dates up on the board, and asked students to name 3 important events that had happened in each year. Chihiro could only think of 2 for each, and it annoyed her that the third answers were stuck somewhere in her mind.

Not to mention the student to her left kept fidgeting, and it was causing her to rub up against him a lot. She tried to huddle closer to Haku, but the student kept scootching closer, and that made it even more cramped. Haku was being deathly silent, and Chihiro was just getting plain annoyed with _both_ of the guys. She thought quickly of jumping up and stomping over to Riku's seat and claiming it as her own, but she only humored the thought for a moment before throwing it away.

Thankfully, the last class of the day was always the shortest, and the bell rang, blissful to Chihiro's ears. She jumped up and hurried out of the classroom, back to her locker to gather her everyday-take-home items. Haku appeared right as she shut her locker. She jumped when she turned and came face to face with him. "U-um, are you s-still coming to my house today?" Chihiro asked, unable to keep the stutter out of her voice.

Haku only nodded. He had a small black bag at his side, and Chihiro wondered how he had managed to get it out of his locker so fast. Come to think of it, she didn't even know where his locker _was_. Chihiro grabbed Haku by his sleeve and pulled his into the throng of students heading towards the front door, and ultimately, home.

Once they were out in the open air, Chihiro let go of Haku's shirt. She had been afraid of getting seperated. It had happened to her several times before, when she had been talking to her friends and then suddenly couldn't find them. She and Haku walked side-by-side, down the street leading to Chihiro's house.

"I don't know how long you can stay," Chihiro finally said. "My mom said that she and Dad were going to be late, but I don't know _exactly_ how late."

"That's fine," Haku replied. An awkward silence, and then Chihiro asked, "So, have you thought of where you are going to spend the night?"

Haku sighed. That had been a particularly troubling question. "I thought about it, but couldn't come up with anything."

Chihiro nodded her head. "I couldn't either, so that's one more thing we must thing about when we get to my house." Haku agreed, and the two walked down the block in a more comfortable silence.

-------o.o--------

Chihiro sat down at the kitchen table, placing a ham sandwich in front of Haku, and taking a bite of her own sandwich. "Alright, let's think," she said, determined to get at least one of their issues solved. "You need a place to stay the night, and we have to find a way to get either Zeniba or Boh into possession of the bath house. Let's start with the first one."

Haku took a small bite of his sandwich and chewed while he thought. "I could camp out in the woods behind the school, where the entrance to the Spirit World is," was his solution.

"That would work. I could get a tent for you, and a sleeping back and food and stuff. I'm sure my mom wouldn't notice if a few of the older blankets and pillows went missing too."

"I wouldn't need all that stuff," Haku said. "The more things I have out in the woods, the better the chance of someone finding me out there. And then we'd have an even _bigger_ issue. It doen't seem like it's going to rain any time soon, so I'd be fine just sleeping up in a tree or something."

Chihiro made a face. "A _tree?_ Are you sure? That doesn't sound very comfortable."

"I don't need to be comfortable," Haku retorted.

Chihiro was about to suggest another idea when she heard the front door open and shut, along with her mother's cheerful greeting. "Chihiro, honey, I'm home!" Chihiro froze, she could hear her mother's heels as they clicked along the wooden boards and entered the kitchen. When the odler woman caught sight of Haku, she blinked a few times, and then asked in her peppy voice, "Oh? I'm sorry, I don't think I recognize you! Mind if I ask what your name is?"

"Haku Nushi," Haku replied, his voice calm.

Mrs. Ogini just smiled and said, "Well, Haku, what brings you here?" Turning to her daughter, the lady chided, "Chihiro, you should have told me you were bringing a friend home!"

Chihiro stuttered her reply in a haste to get it out. "O-oh, w-well, it was sort of...unexpected. You see, Haku's house caught fire yesterday, and his parents told him to see if he could spend a night at a friend's house until they could get the repairs done. And, since no one else offered, I thought he could at least stay here at the house until he found a place to stay the night."

"Oh," Chihiro's mother sympathized. "Well, you can stay here, all right? I'm sure your father wouldn't mind, you have friends over all the time!" Mrs. Ogini gave her daughter a knowing wink, and Chihiro blushed. Sure she had had friends over, several at a time, even, but never a _boy_.

"Chihiro, later you should get the futon pad out from under the bed. You can just place it at the end of your room, if there's a clean spot."

Chihiro pouted. "Mom! I keep my room _very_ clean!" Chihiro's comment was true, she had picked up the cleaning habit from working at the bath house, and she had never gotten rid of it.

Mrs. Ogini winked as she turned to the stove. "_Sure_ you do."

Chihiro was furious. Grabbing Haku's wrist, she mumbled, "Come on Haku, let's take our conversation up to my room." Haku just followed behind obediently; he had been doing so ever since the beginning of the morning.

Mrs. Ogini yelled up the stairs at them, "Don't do anything you might regret!"

"MOM!!!!!!"

-----------------

LOL! Chihiro's mom is like, the perfect mom. My mom doesn't mind if I bring guys over, as long as she knows they're coming over, and we can't go in my bedroom at ALL. Plus, she won't let them spend the night! How boring is that?

Hopefully, this chapter is a little longer. I wanted to approach it differently, but hey, whatever works.


	4. Chapter 4

Aw, hell. My mom is trying to find a story she posted on fanfic a LONG time ago, and if she finds it, she's going to make me read it! Which would be alright, except for it's for the Mummy Returns, and it's like, 20 chapters long, and I'd have no clue what she was talking about, because I barely remember what happened in the movies! I'm kind of happy, though, because she's finally going to start reading what I've been writing. Although, that also creeps me out a little, too. whimpers I hope she doesn't read my yaoi fanfic when I get it out. _**That**_ would be hard to explain.

"Oh, yeah, Mom, I suddenly starting believing that incest was alright, and that we should all encourage others to marry their cousins because they read about two brothers making love to each other on Yeah..._suuureee..._she'd so TOTALLY believe that.

Anyway...wait...I forgot what I was going to say. Damn. Hate when that happens. sigh Let's just get on to the story, shall we?

-----------------

Chihiro dumped a pillow and a large quilted blanket onto the black futon. There was just enough room in her tiny bedroom for the futon to lay flat on the left of her bed. Why had she followed her mother's orders to bring the futon _allll_ the way up the stairs to her room? Because in the 3 hours that she and Haku had been sitting in her room, they hadn't come up with any fool-proof ideas to thwart Kosuke, and his reign over the bath house.

Haku engulfed Chihiro in a hug from behind. Sensing it was her friend, Chihiro leaned backwards willingly, loosing herself in Haku's rich, unique scent, and his warm body. An encouraging voice whispered in her ear, "Don't give up. We'll think of something. Tomorrow, we'll just try harder." Okay?"

"Yeah," Chihiro replied. Her response was admitingly delayed, and Chihiro was a bit disappointed when the pleasant scent and warm body disappeared form her senses. A moment later, she found out why.

"Chihiro, honey! Time to go to bed!" Haku had heard Mrs. Ogini's footsteps approaching, and had put an appropriate distance between them. Her mom opened Chihiro's bedroom door and poked her head inside. "Bed. Now," she commanded, and Chihiro scurried under the covers of her small twin-sized bed. Haku flopped down respectively onto the futon mattress and lowered himself under the covers. Mrs. Ogini walked into the room and gave them both goodnight kisses on the foreheads, even though she had to bend down considerably to give Haku his kiss.

"I'll see you two in the morning. Get a good night's rest, because you have school tomorrow." Mrs. Ogini waved them goodnight, and turned off the light as she left the room, closing the door behind her with a soft thud.

Silence. Chihiro stared up at her bedroom ceiling. Why had her mother kissed Haku goodnight? Didn't she know that was embarassing? "Hey, Haku," the girl whispered. "I'm sorry my mom kissed you. It must be pretty freaky, to have a complete stranger kiss you on the forehead."

Chihiro could hear Haku shift under his blankets, and she scooted over to the edge of her bed so that she could look down on him. Haku had turned so that he was laying on his side, staring right back up at her. "It was fine, just surprising was all," he whispered back. Chihiro blushed, glad it was dark in the room so that Haku couldn't see. The only light that came into the room was the moonlight, entering through the only window.

"Haku," Chihiro began slowly, "do you think we could...um...hold hands?"

Chihiro caught the shadow of Haku's warm smile, and over the edge of the bed, she could see him extend his hand. Scooting over until she was almost hanging off of the bed, Chihiro took the boy's warm hand in her own. It was an odd request, but Haku had willingly granted it. Chihiro smiled as Haku gently squeezed the hand in his own, urging her with a silent request to slip into a peaceful sleep. Before she knew it, Chihiro had complied, and thoughts of Haku and the Spirit World filled her dreams.

Haku just watched the small girl as she drifted off. _What an odd family,_ he thought. _First, the mother kisses me without permission, and then Chihiro requests to hold my hand as she falls asleep. Not that I mind it..._

Haku looked out the window from his vantage point on the ground. A midnight blue sky and twinkling silver stars were all he could see, but that wasn't what was on his mind. _I have to go back some time, and I might have to bring Chihiro with me. I hate to involve her...she's so innocent...she shouldn't be going through these sort of disasters. Is it really a disaster, though? Maybe for the bath house, but not for her. I wonder what Chihiro thinks of the whole problem. And she doesn't even know the whole truth. In all reality, I don't want to tell her the truth. Why did I ask for her assistance? Is she really the only one who can help save the bath house, and everyone who works there? What a terrible mess I've gotten her, and myself, into. _

As all these thoughts ran through his head, Haku felt his eyelids droop, and his grip on Chihiro's loosened, though he never completely let go. Of course, he'd have to be an idiot to let go of his one, _true_, love.

-----------------""

Chihiro woke up in the morning with a start. So startled, she fell off the edge of the bed she had been precariously laying on. With an "Oomph!", she successfully woke Haku up in the process.

Stumbling when she stood up, Chihiro dragged her feet to her alarm clock and pounded on it until her fist hit the right button to turn it off. It really was an unorthodox method, but it started the day with half as much stress.

Haku rubbed his eyes, not completely sure the sounds of the punches and the visual were matching up. "Good morning Chihiro, did you sleep well?" Haku asked pleasantly after he abandoned his previous actions. Chihiro blinked and turned to the boy, acting as though she had forgotten he was there.

"Oh, um, yeah, I had good dreams." _They were about you._ "What about you?"

Haku couldn't very well remember the dream he had had, so he just gave a slight shrug and said, "I_ feel _rested, so that's good enough for me." Chihiro scoffed and opened the door to her bedroom. Haku gave her a questioning glance, and she pointed out into the hallway. "Out. I have to get dressed."

"Oh, right." Haku stood, untangling his legs from the blankets. Stepping out into the hallway, Haku took with him his school uniform so that he too could get changed. Walking down the hallway to the bathroom, Haku closed himself in and changed quickly. Chihiro's room was empty when he peeked in, so the boy continued down the hallway to the stairs, and down the stairs into the kitchen, where Chihiro and her father were sitting at the kitchen table, and Mrs. Ogini was standing in front of the stove, waiting for several eggs to cook.

"Morning Haku!" The bubbly older woman greeted. Mr. Ogini just looked up from his newspaper and gave the older boy a grunt to acknowledge him. Chihiro had her head laying on her arms, and Haku honestly believed for a moment that she had fallen back asleep.

"Good morning, Mrs. Ogini, Mr. Ogini." Haku said quickly. He took a seat next to Chihiro, and a plate of eggs and toast was promptly put in front of him.

"Chihiro, darling, sit up and have breakfast," Mrs. Ogini shook her daughter awake, and Chihiro obediantly sat up, leaving room for the girl's own plate, identical to Haku's.

"Thanks Mom," Chihiro muttered as she dug into her eggs. Haku mumbled a thanks too, before he began on a piece of his nicely browned toast, slathered in butter.

"It's no problem!" Mrs. Ogini beamed, setting a plate in front of her husband. Then, she too sat down, and the entire table was quiet, save the sounds of cutlery hitting plate.

Awk-ward.

------------(-)

"Bye Mom! See you later!" Chihiro shouted as she and Haku made their way to school. Mrs. Ogini could be seen waving through the living room window at the two leaving children.

Chihiro skipped down the sidewalk, and Haku watched in an amused silence. The two had made it through the increasingly awkward breakfast, had gotten ready for school, and had left with just enough time to get to class and not be late. A great accomplishment, in Chihiro's eyes. "Hey, Haku!" she called over her shoulder. "Are you ready for another day of torture?"

"Hn," the boy replied. He hadn't slept well last night; dreams of the bath house and his life before Chihiro had come crashing down on him like waves on a beach. And, like waves, those dreams did some serious damage to the landscaping of Haku's brain. He now had a _lot_ more to think about. The questions that might not have occurred played through his mind, and he could find no suitable answers to any of them.

Chihiro noticed the boy's odd behaviour and stopped skipping to join him in a slow, ponderous walk. "What's the matter? You aren't looking too well..."

Haku started and looked down at Chihiro with warm eyes. "Nah, I'm fine. Just...thinking too hard, is all!" If Chihiro heard the hesitation in Haku's voice, she didn't show it. Instead she just smiled brightly, totally believing the boy's excuse.

"Okay, well, give it a rest, at least for the rest of the day. We can think about it later, alright? If you think too hard, you'll damage all your brain cells, and then we wouldn't be able to come up with a plan at all!" Chihiro tuffled with Haku's hair playfully, and he swatted her hand away gently, a smile on his face. It was so like Chihiro to put off big matters until the last minute. Chihiro wanted him to promise not to think about it, but how could he not? It was the more important of the two reasons for him coming to see her. So, he halfheartedly lied and said he'd focus on the day. Chihiro accepted the lie and seemed satisfied. Haku's heart broke in two at the secret he was keeping from her.

Really, the girl had so much control over him.

------------(TT)

"Alright class, take a slip and pass it on. These are the permission slips for the survival training we'll be doing this Friday. Yes, I know, Friday is coming up in a few days, so some of your parents might be reluctant to let you go. Just remind them it's mandatory that you go, because this is also for a grade. I need these in by tomorrow, by the way. Does everyone have one? Alright, then, let's begin the lesson."

Chihiro stared at the paper in her hand. The gym teacher was hosting survival skills in the woods behind his house? But, the only woods in the area were the ones behind the condos, where the entrance to the Spirit World was. Maybe, he lived in one of the condos? Possibily. But, the better question was how much begging and pleaing was she going to have to go through to get her parents to sign her slip?

Suddenly, Chihiro found her gaze being shifted to Haku, who was sitting in the back of the room, staring out the window. She made a face; Haku was probably thinking about the Spirit World, even though she had asked him to relax a little. Although, she couldn't really blame him.

Chihiro made a small choking noise when a realization hit her. What if, during the survival training, one of her classmates found the portal to the Spirit World? They could get stuck in there, much like she had, and if this guy - Kosuke - was as mean and nasty as Haku portrayed him to be, the student(s) wouldn't have a very good chance of ever making it back out again.

Oh. Kami. She and Haku had yet _another_ problem to add to their ever-growing list. They would have to devise a plan to stop anyone other than themselves from entering the gate that led to the portal. And Haku, would he even be able to _go_ to the survival training? It was mandatory, which meant that everyone _had_ to go, but what if he didn't have anyone to sign his paper for him? She could always forge a signature for him, but her handwriting was a bit of crap, and it was nowhere near as neat and delicate as an adult's should be.

Chihiro mentally groaned. Now she knew why Haku was always staring off. He was wondering the same things she was, and maybe even more. The thought made her head hurt, and Chihiro had to sympathize for the older boy. He had so much responsibility, and even though he had come all the way across from the Spirit World to seek her out, she had barely even helped him! Kami, she felt so guilty!

Chihiro sank her head down onto her desk and decided that she would use lunch to think things out up on the roof. She'd even invite Haku, though she wouldn't tell him about the other problems she had ran into. That would only stress him out even more!

Her mind set up, Chihiro focused on the lesson that was being taught, and was realized to find that it was relatively easy. At least she had gone over one hurdle on the track that was her life.

----------------------

Ohhh...cheesy and crappy ending. Darn. That stunk. Well, you know what? I resent that! At least this chap was a little longer, I think. I spent more time ranting at the beginning than I did on the entire chapter. And, there was a section in there that was really, really, short, and I could have taken it out, but that would have been too much work! XD Me a lazy bum...


	5. Chapter 5

Meh, I cannot seem to focus at all. So, if this chater seems weird BLAME FANFICTION! It kept me up last night...right? I think. Can't really remember, I was half-asleep. Too much reading, not enough writing.

Me no owney. TT

-----------TT

Chihiro thumped her head against the lunch table. Letting out a sigh that none of her friends noticed, the girl thought back and wondered how she had even _gotten_ to the lunch room. There she was, walking serenely to the roof steps, when she felt two arms hook her and pull her into the hallway traffic.

Glancing around, Chihiro noted that none of her friends were even paying _attention _to her. She was more like a little ornament at their table; there to please the eye, but never to be heard from.

When absolutely no one was looking, Chihiro stood up discreetly and snuck over to the lunch room door. Opening it with as little sound as possible, she slipped through and made her way down the empty hallways. Gosh, her friends could actually get on her nerves some times! As Chihiro climbed the steps to the roof, she chuckled lightly at all the times she had been kidnapped by her friends.

Opening the door to the roof, Chihiro poked her head outside. A boy with shoulder-length black hair was standing near the railing, looking out over the condos in the valley below him. Haku obviously hadn't heard her, so Chihiro snuck over on tiptoes, fully intending to surprise the boy, but she stopped midstep when she heard a muttered name.

"Chihiro," the distracted teen mumbled under his breath. "What have I gotten you into? Maybe I shouldn't have come here after all. I suppose the bath house with just have to suffer--"

Haku stopped his one-sided conversation when he felt two small arms twist their way under his and clasp in front of his stomach. A small face buried into his back, and he could hear small sniffling noises coming from behind him.

"H-Haku, y-you can't j-just give up!" Chihiro cried. Haku realized she had heard his muttering. She pulled the dragonboy closer and cried into the back of his uniform. Why had Haku even been _thinking_ about giving up? "We'll find a plan! We have to! We can't just let the bath house suffer! What about Lin, and Kamaji, and Boh! They're all hoping that you'll come back with help! We can't let them down!"

"Actually, Chihiro," Haku said, his voice a tad colder than usual, "All of those people...think that I'm dead."

"W-what?!"

Haku turned around and embraced Chihiro, letting her cry into his uniform. "Before I left, there had been a rumor spreading around that I had started. I purposefully wanted people to think of me as dead, so I let a few of the girls overhear a heated conversation I had with Kosuke one evening. They all thought that Kosuke had been threatening me, and in a way, he had been. So, right before I decided to leave, I staged a scene, with the help of a few of the angered spirits, and left making sure everyone knew the lie."

"Angered spirits?" Chihiro asked, her crying slowing down now that she knew part of the truth.

"Many of the spirits had enjoyed staying at Yubaba's bath house, but when Kosuke took over, he changed several things. Not to mention he treated the workers horribly, right in front of the spirits. At least Yubaba was a little more subtle. So, the spirits that did not enjoy the new bath house helped me to stage a scene, encouraging me to rid the bath house of Kosuke and get a new, more proper and fitting owner."

"So, you have a lot of support, don't you?" Chihiro asked, smiling a little. Haku nodded, and Chihiro hugged him tightly once more. "Haku, I want you to know that I am supporting you all the way! I really want you to help the bath house, and I'll do anything I can to help! Really! I'd do anything!" A few more tears slid down Chihiro's cheek, and Haku brushed them away with his thumb.

"Chihiro, there might come a time when I have to go back to the Spirit World, and when I do, I don't want you to worry. I don't know if I'll be able to tell you when, but if I disappear for a while, don't be afraid. Be the brave Chihiro I know," Haku said, looking Chihiro sternly in the eyes.

Chihiro nodded, and Haku's eyes softened. After a small moment, Haku leaned down and kissed Chihiro on the forehead, wrapping her in another tight hug before the school bell rang. Chihiro was dazed; even if the kiss had only been on the forehead, it still had a lot of impact on her. Then the full meaning of Haku's words hit her. Crying out, she asked the leaving boy, "Haku, what did you mean by, "I don't know if I'll be able to tell you when,"? I need to know, so that I can make a coverup for my absence."

Haku looked over his shoulder at Chihiro. She looked so beautiful standing there, the trees and a bright blue sky as her background, her chocolate brown hair twisting and twirling in the wind. Haku's heart broke when he saw the deifant look on the girl's face. She was going to argue with him on his decision, and she knew as well as he did that he couldn't say no. "I'm not taking you with me to the Spirit World. I'd ki--" Haku stopped short of saying "kill myself", so instead he just sighed and said, "I'd never forgive myself if something happened to you. It's too dangerous there, and I don't want you to go."

Chihiro frowned, and mentally steeled herself to stop the barrage of tears that threatened to come falling down. "I want to go with you though! I want to support you, and I can't do that if you're in a totally different world!"

Haku turned and took a few steps to Chihiro, who had succumbed to the tears. Her head was facing the ground, but she felt a soft hand pull her chin up, and found a pair of lips on her own. "Chihiro," Haku mumbled into the kiss, "I told you, I'd rather die than have you hurt."

Chihiro's crying intensified, and she threw her arms around Haku's neck. Haku held the crying girl, but after half a minute of crying, he pulled away and stated, "We're going to be late." As if to prove his point, the bell rung a few seconds later.

---TT---

Chihiro and Haku had pretty much avoided each other the next few periods, much to Chihiro's dissatisfaction. The girl had been moody and withdrawn, so much so that her friends had confronted her about it some times during one of the class periods.

"Chihiro, really, stop thinking about him!" Yuri, a small blonde-haired girl, whispered, sitting gracefully in the seat directly in front of Chihiro's. The teacher had finished the lesson early, and - being the nice teacher that he was - had allowed the students to move around and speak with their friends.

"Yeah, just forget about him! Why are you so hung up over him anyway?" Yoko asked. She was usually quiet and serene, but was quite inquisitive when provoked. Especially when it was her friends she was asking questions about. Yoko flipped back her brown hair and sat at the edge of Chihiro's desk, waiting expectantly for a satisfactory answer.

"I don't know who you're talking about," Chihiro mumbled. Her feelings were still sore, and right now talking with her friends didn't seem too appealing.

"Listen, Chihiro, if you don't tell us, we'll follow you home and ask your mom! You usually tell your mom everything, don't you? So she should know who you like!" Yuri said with a small laugh, the tease in her eyes clearly evident.

Chihiro frowned, and then panicked. Her friends couldn't follow her home! If they went up to her room they would see the extra futon and would question why it was there, and then Chihiro would have to make up more lies to cover Haku's residence at her house. And what would Haku do while her friends were there? Where could he go? "Um, fine! I'll tell you! But, how did you know I was crushing?" Chihiro asked, to buy some more time as she tried to think up a guy's name.

"Well, we couldn't think of anything _else_ it could be. You always get decent grades, so it couldn't be homework and stuff, and we know your parents get along like bees and honey, so they couldn't have gotten in a fight,and if they did you would have told us. We figured the one thing friends are hesitant to tell each other are their crushes, so we're forcing yours out of you!" Yuri smiled a big grin, and Yoko nodded her head to agree.

"So, who is it?" Yuri asked, poking Chihiro lightly on the arm to get a response.

Chihiro quickly glanced at Haku, who was sitting in his seat, staring out the window as usual. Then another male walked up to Haku. "Akito?" Chihiro whispered quickly, in surprise.

"Akito?" Yoko questioned, looking at Yuri and then back to Chihiro. "Chihiro, do you really like Akito? Isn't he the one that usually bullies you around?"

Chihiro chuckled nervously. "Yeah, well, love blossoms under strange circumstances!" _Just like with me and Haku._

"There's no way you can like that doofus!" Yuri squealed, not believing Chihiro's lie. Chiihro pretended to look a little hurt by her "crush's" insult, but she didn't really put that much effort into the act. Yuri was right, she didn't - and never would - have a crush on Akito.

"Why don't you prove you have a crush on him?" Yoko asked, her voice quiet in comparison to Yuri's squeal. "Go up and talk to him. We'll watch for back here." Yuri's eyes brightened at the prospect, and she pulled Chiihro out of her seat from the collar of her shirt. Chihiro struggled, but she knew it was pointless. Yuri was the best female tai-kwan-do artist in the school, and she was captain of the team.

Chihiro felt herself being pushed into the general direction of Haku and Akito, and she started stuttering nonsense. "B-but, I c-can't...not now! Come on, p-please? Oi! S-stop pushing me!"

Yuri snickered and left an embarassed Chihiro in front of two speechless boys. Both had noticed the girls approaching, and had watched silently. "Hey Chihiro," Akito finally greeted, putting an arm on the girl's shoulder. He watched as she jerked away from his touch, and then turned a shade darker in the face. The male then put an arm around her shoulders and smirked at Haku, who had "murderous intent" written all over his face.

"Um, hi...Akito," Chihiro mumbled. "Um, what were you two talking about?"

"You, actually," Haku cut in. His face was once again stoic, the murderous intent still lingering in the air around him.

"W-what about me?" Chihiro stuttered, surprised by Haku's reply.

"How cute you are," Akito breathed into her ear. Chihiro jumped, tense and looking like a frightened animal. She was frantic, and desperately wanted to get away from Akito's grasp. But she could feel Yoko's and Yuri's eyes on her back, and knew she would look suspicious if she moved away from a loving embrace. If you could call it a loving embrace.

_When he touches me, my heart doesn't race as much as it does when Haku touches me. His hugs, his arms around me...they mean nothing unless they come from Haku. _Chihiro shook the thought out of her head, and looked down at the floor.

"That's not what you were really talking about, were you?" she asked softly, half hoping they would both laugh and tell her they were kidding. But the other half of her wanted to know what Haku thought about her cuteness. Wait, was she even cute at all?

"Not really, well, not in a direct way, anyway. Actually, to be specific, we were talking about the survival training, and who we want to be paired with. Today is the day we get paired up in our tents, so we should really be thinking about who we want to be with," Akito explained. Chihiro was relieved, but wondered how the subject had wandered to her at all.

"Oh, that's right, we had to hand in our permission slips today." Chihiro laughed lightly at the begging and pleaing she had had to do for her mom to sign her slip. Not only hers, but Haku's as well, using the excuse of, "His father is away and the slips are due today, so he has no one to sign it for him!" Her mother had finally resigned, muttering something about being late to work. Haku must have been remembering the same thing, because he had a know-it-all look on his face and was also chuckling.

"So, Chihiro, who do you want to be with?" Akito asked, his voice seductive and equivalent to a purr.

"O-oh, probably my friends, Yoko and Yuri, and maybe a few other people..." Chihiro stuttered. "I'm fine with just about anyone," she finished, giving a meaning glance to both of the males.

"Great! So, wanna share a tent?" Akito asked, dropping his face down to Chihiro's level. He had to lean very far because he was so much taller than her. Chihiro glanced at Haku, almost asking for his permission, and she barely missed the scowl that appeared on his face.

"Um, I guess, if our teachers will let us...but Haku has to be there too!" Chihiro had to fight the urge to clasp her hand over her mouth after she added the last unplanned part of her reply. Haku blinked a few times, the shocked expression still lingering on his face. Akito frowned, his eyebrows furrowing in concentration, as though he were trying to think up a good reason for Haku not to be in the tent with them. Finding none that would completely satisfy, he sighed and shrugged, resigning to the request.

Chihiro nodded, satisfied. Just then the bell rang, and the students hustled to get to their next class. Chihiro and Haku walked next to each other, hands brushing as the two temporarily forgot their earlier conversation. Looks like there are times of peace even in storms...

-----storm-----

Haha, yeah, I know. I've been slacking! Don't hurt me, kay? My gram is really annoying me right now, and it is so hard to get anything done. She thinks I'm actually listening to her when she speaks to me! How funny is that? XD


	6. Chapter 6

Meep! Okay, this is a bit weird, but I decided that I can use a time-skip just this once! XD I think I already used one in this story, though!!! So, basically, this chap starts as the class is hiking to their "survival training". Kay? Kay.

Me no owney...sniffle...

--------TT

Chihiro lifted her backpack higher onto her shoulders. It wasn't necessarily heavy, but it was larger than most backpacks, and she didn't like it when it would hit against her lower back and butt every other step. She was dragging the tent bag alongside her, because it was too long and heavy to attach to her backpack. Akito had offered to help her carry it, but she had just shrugged and said he could help put it up.

It was a miracle, really. Mr. Ibiki had assigned her, Haku, Akito, and Yuri to her tent, because it was the only 4 person tent, and the other, bigger tents had been split evenly into boys and girls. Supposedly, the four were the most responsible, and Mr. Ibiki could trust them not to "mess around".

Chihiro just had to know...what had Mr. Ibiki been sniffing to think that Akito was a responsible student?

"Hey, Chihiro, do you want help pitching your tent once we get to the clearing?" Yoko asked, hanging back until Chiihro caught up with her. Yoko had been camping several times before, and even though Chihiro had only been a few times, Chiihro was confident she could pitch her family's tent.

"Nah, that's okay. I can figure it out, and if not, I've got two obedient boys and _Yuri_ to help me." Chihiro said, adding emphases(sp?) to her friend's name.

"You got stuck with two boys?" Yoko asked raising an eyebrow. "I thought Ibiki wanted to seperate them equally?"

"Yeah, well, apparently we are 'responsible'. Funny thing is, the boys are Haku and Akito." Chihiro used air quotes and laughed dryly at the end of her second sentence.

Yoko frowned. "Well, I guess I'm happy you got stuck with Akito...I mean, you like him right? But I don't really know Haku very well...he's that new guy with black hair, right? He's really quiet. Good luck with him!"

Chihiro stomach did a flip and sank deeper in her body. "Actually, he's really nice. I've talked with him and stuff...he lives fairly close to me. Not as weird as you'd think..."

Yoko frowned again, her usual expression gracing her soft features. "Chihiro, if I didn't know better, I'd say you liked Haku more than you do Akito."

"W-what? N-no way! I just t-talked with h-him is all, n-nothing more!" Chiihro stuttered, bringing up her hands in defense. Yoko gave a light laugh, and Chihiro gave up. "Okay, so I _do_ like him; way more than Akito, in fact," she admitted.

"I knew it!" Yoko exclaimed, raising a fist in the air triumphantly. "There's no way you'd fall for a dunce like Akito!"

"Aw, that's not nice," Akito said, jogging to catch up to the two girls. Yoko blinked and then looked at Chihiro, who had a pleading look on her face. It obviously read, "Please don't leave me alone with this guy," but Yoko was going to ignore her for a moment.

"See ya later, Chihiro," Yoko said, waving as she jogged off in search of a certain black-haired boy. Chhiro stared despairingly at her friend's back until Akito's bumped into her shoulder, on purpose, of course.

"Hey, so, what are we going to do after we pitch our tents and stuff?" Akito asked.

"I guess that's where the "survival training" part comes in. That is why we came here, you know." Chihiro said, the voice of reasoning strong in her head. Why had Yoko left her? She wasn't good at small talk! As long as Akito kept asking questions...

"Oh. So, Chihiro...want to share a sleeping bag?"

_Oh. My. God! Who does he think he is?! _"Um, no thanks. I'd feel really stupid if I lugged my sleeping bag all the way out here, and then didn't use it." Chihiro tried to smile sweetly, but it came out as more of a grimace.

"Kay, then. Well, we could always share your sleeping bag." Akito's perverse grin sent shivers up Chihiro's spine, and she willingly snuggled up into the arms that snuck their way around her front.

"I'm not sure the teacher would allow that," a cool voice said. Chihiro recognized the voice and melted into the arms. Thank God, her savior had come.

"Nushi, what the hell are you doing?" If Haku's voice was cool, Akito's was icy cold. The brunette was obviously jealous of Haku's interaction with Chihiro.

"Saving a good friend from a perverse teenager?" Haku offered, his arms tightening around Chihiro. The three were standing alone on the path, seeing as how the other students had all gone ahead. Akito stiffened, and Chihiro swore she saw his fist clench and unclench, as though he were debating whether or not to punch Haku right in the face. Haku also seemed to stiffen, but Chihiro could not tell why. The boy was usually so calm around Akito, he wouldn't just blow up right now, would he?

"Well, I should be the one calling you perverse. Look at the way you're holding her!" Akito pointed an accusing finger at Haku's arms, as though they might disappear if he concentrated hard enough.

"This is nothing," Haku said, his voice never wavering. "Chihiro doesn't mind it, and at least_ I'm _not the one who wanted to share a _bed_ with her."

Akito was blushing a mad shade of red, and finally he turned of the balls of his feet and stomped off, heading in the direction the class had gone. Chihiro turned so that she was facing Haku and hugged him back, muttering in his ear, "Thank you. You really did save me. That guy is so crazy!"

Haku smiled and blew on Chihiro's neck, making her jump. "No problem. Your friend, the brunette, came and got me. She said that a lech was coming on to you back here."

"Yeah, that was pretty much it," Chihiro replied, giggling. "I think we better catch up to the class, though. They might send out a search party for us if we're too late!" Chihiro grabbed Haku's hand and pulled him into a jog down the path. Haku smiled and followed, watching Chihiro's ponytail swing back and forth with her steady footsteps.

---meep---

Chihiro stepped back to admire the fire that was blazing in the fading light. It had taken a while, but she had finally gotten it to rise to a nice height. Yuri plopped down on the ground next to the fire, stretching out her hands to warm them in the chilly night. "The tent's up!" The blonde told her enthusiastically.

"About time! You guys took forever! I already got a bucket of water and lots and lots of dry firewood!" Chihro mumbled, but she was secretly pleased with herself. "We just have to heat up the water before we drink it, and we'll be fine."

"What about supper?" Akito asked as he walked around the fire to take a seat next to Yuri. "Didn't Ibiki said we got to fend for ourselves for supper? I just remember that Team 2 got dinner, and we got breakfast. Team 1 got lunch, right? Then shouldn't Team 4 get tomorrow's lunch?"

"Yes, that's right. He said that he'd be able to provide each team with one meal, and we got the fortune of drawing the breakfast slip." Haku slipped to the ground next to Chihiro, who plopped back down to complete the circle.

"So, what are we preparing?" Yuri asked, stretching lazily. "I'm game for just about anything."

"Well, I don't know. I saw a few apple trees out next to the creek I got the water from, so I suppose we could wash a few apples and eat them down there while we heat up the water. I don't think there's anything else, unless someone wants to go to the tedious task of catching fish." Chihiro laid back onto her back, looking up at the faintly visible stars.

"Apples sound nice," Yuri said. The boys were silent, so Chihiro stood up and made sure the bucket of water was sitting near the water to let it warm up. Then, she grabbed a small plastic bag from her backpack. She had intended to use it for wet clothes, but she could always reuse it after she collected apples.

"I'll be right back," Chihiro said, waving as she jogged off in the direction of the creek. The three other students looked at each other, and then Yuri asked the question every one of them was thinking.

"Shouldn't one of us go with her?"

Akito and Haku looked at each other, contemplating. Haku stood up first, and nodded. "I'll follow her and help her pick the apples." With that, the boy took off down the path Chihiro had just taken. Yuri frowned, and then glanced over to Akito.

"Shouldn't we be going with them?"

"Someone needs to stay here so that we can kep a fire going to heat the water. It's not safe to let fires go unattended in the woods, and we still need the water to drink." Akito's answer was plain and informative. Yuri shrugged and looked into the fire. How could Chihiro have a crush on this guy?

"So...what now?"

----apple----

Chihiro twisted the apple around so that she could check it for marks and such before she pulled it off the branch and dropped it into her bag. It was hard to see in the weak moonlight. She had already collected a dozen or so apples before the bag began to get heavy, and Chihiro decided to head back to the clearing.

As she walked along the dark path, Chihiro couldn't help but feel a sense of dread washing over her. It was a pretty night out, with a full moon and several stars visible, but Chihiro couldn't shake that awful sense that kept coming back. As she approached the clearing, Chihiro could see the red glow of the fire flickering on the nearby trees.

Chihiro had to blink a few times before she realized what was wrong with the picture. "Where's...Haku?" she asked weakly.

Yuri looked up from a card game she was playing with Akito. "Hm? But he went to get apples with you! He left right after you did! Haven't you seen him?"

Chihiro's lip trembled. Dropping the bag in her hands, she jumped over the rolling apples and headed back in the direction from which she had come. Akito and Yuri looked at each other with horrified expressions.

_"Chihiro, there might come a time when I have to go back to the Spirit World, and when I do, I don't want you to worry. I don't know if I'll be able to tell you when, but if I disappear for a while, don't be afraid. Be the brave Chihiro I know." _

_No way! He did NOT go to the Spirit World without me! He said he would, but..._ Chihiro's tears blurred her vision, and she tripped on a large rock, scraping up her knees and hands in the process. She didn't care, though. She had to get to the Spirit World gate! Maybe...maybe Haku hadn't left yet! Maybe he'd waited for her, knowing she'd follow him! Yes, maybe...

Chihro tripped herself again, but this time she managed to stay on two feet. Running, she knew she was going in the right direction. it was almost like the gate was calling her, like it was telling her she needed to hurry. It was encouraging her to keep going, to not turn back! Chihiro kept running, even though her breath caught in her throat, and her knees and hands stung from the cuts on them. Blood ran down her legs and dripped from her wrists. She thought only for a moment that she must look a mess, but appearances didn't matter right now. All that mattered was finding Haku!

_God, Haku! Why?! You should have known not to leave me, not like this! Why, why, why? You could have waited for me! We could have gone together! Two heads are better than one, but it seems like you weren't even using the one head you've already got! _Chihiro's tears splashed off of her face onto the dry ground underneath her running feet. She was nearing the gate right now, it was just around this corner...

Chihiro fell to her knees, wincing as her cuts were filled with dirt and grit. There was no Haku waiting at the entrance to the gate. In fact, there was no one. Chihiro sobbed silently before her tears began to run dry. Filled with new-found determination, Chihiro stood up on her weak knees and walked over to the large arch that would take her to the Spirit World. Not looking back, Chihiro walked through, her confident mood showing in her posture and her gleaming eyes.

Darkness. And then, a light. Chihiro found that she was beginning to limp. As she walked into the large room at the end of the tunnel, Chihiro had a blast of air pass by her. It smelled damp, and Chihiro's heart sank. She remembered the river, and how she had not been able to cross it at night.

The clanking of a ferryboat's bell caught Chihiro's attention. She ran out to the very entrance of the building and saw the ocean lapping at the edges of the door. The ferryboat was not that far away, and it was still boarding. Chihiro took off her shoes and left them in the doorway. Then, without a second thought, she jumped into the water and starting swimming to the shore closest to the ferryboat.

Climbing out, Chihiro wrung out her clothes and hair before sneaking over to the ferryboat's entrance. There was a small ramp to go up, and a long line of spirits were slowly making their way up.

Before she knew it, Chihiro's back was being pulled, and she felt herself being tugged into the slowly ascending line of spirits. Looking up, Chiihro smiled into the face of the radish spirit. The radish spirit pretended to ignore her, but Chihiro could have sworn she saw the corner of his mouth curl up a little.

Once they were safe on the ferryboat, Chihiro was able to speak with the radish spirit. "Excuse me, um, Mr. Spirit, but thank you. I had no idea how I was going to get to the bath house! You really save me!" She said as she bowed with respect. The radish spirit made a small noise of acceptance and then patted her on the back. Chihiro stood up straight and looked at it. "So, you know Haku is still alive, right?" The radish spirit made another small noise, and Chihiro began to tear up. Her words rushed out before she could stop them.

"I told Haku I wanted to go to the Spirit World with him, but he was worried about my safety, so he told me I couldn't go! Then, when we were on a school field trip, if you could call it that, Haku snuck away while I was collecting apples, and now it's probably going to take me forever to find him, if I find him before Kosuke does! Oh, I'm so worried about him, and I want to know where he is so much!" Chihiro began to cry again, and the radish spirit beckoned for her to sit on his lap while he patted her back to try and sooth her.

The ferryboat let out a bell tone a little later, after Chihiro had stopped crying. The radish spirit stood and ushered her out of the room, under the cloak of secrecy. The two hurried over the bridge, past all the greeters, and into the bath house itself. Chihiro was still hiding behind the radish spirit, but that didn't stop her from running stack dab into another person.

Chihiro groaned and rubbed her head. The person on the floor across from her did the same, and they looked up into each others' eyes.

"Lin!"

"CHIHIRO!!!!"

----Katie!----

LOL. I just had to put that last thing. So, finally, we're getting into the real plot of the story. Yay! Plz review! I worked hard on this chapter!


	7. Chapter 7

Ello! To all of my lovely reviewers (and to those of you who DIDN'T review) I'd like to thank you all! You guys rock, and can all have cookies! I hope you can all enjoy this chapter, and don' forget to review!

---hands out cookies---

Chihiro looked at Lin, disbelief apparent in her wide, brown eyes Lin stared right back, before she gathered her wits and pulled Chihiro up by the collar of her cotton T-shirt. "Where have you been, Ch-Sen?" Chihiro winced, this wasn't exactly the welcoming she had been expecting from her old friend. But, hadn't Lin always thought her name was Sen? Then why had she almost called her Chihiro?

"I'm sorry, I was assisting the Radish Spirit," Chihiro answered, although it was really the other way around. "I didn't mean to abandon my post. It won't happen again" Chihiro bowed as best as she could with her feet dangling a few centimeters off of the ground.

Lin shook her head sadly, as though she regretted what she was about to say. "No, this has happened too much. Come on, we'll have to take you to Kosuke." Lin put Chihiro back on the ground and grabbed her hand to drag her to the elevator. "I'm sorry, Mr. Radish Spirit, but this lady is in trouble. I can call someone to assist you in a moment." Lin pulled the lever on the elevator and disappeared from view of the large gawking crowd.

"Lin?" Chihiro asked slowly, afraid her friend was really actually mad with her. But Lin just turned around in the roomy elevator and grabbed Chihiro in a tight bear hug.

"Oh Chihiro! I'm so glad you're back! But, I have something to tell you, and I don't think you'll like it. Actually, there are lots of things I have to tell you, and most of them are bad…but there's one that you are really going to be upset about and I--"

"You were going to tell me that Haku's dead, right?" Chihiro interrupted. Lin nodded slowly, small tears forming in her eyes. Chihiro looked warmly at the brunette before engulfing her in a large hug. "Yeah, well, that's just about it. Haku's not dead! He staged his death and then disappeared so that he could go to the Human World to get me. He told me all about Kosuke and how he needed my help! But then the jerk left me and came to the Spirit World without me, and I need to find him so that we can help spring a coup de tat on Kosuke!"

Lin was shocked. "He's not dead? That bakadaijo isn't dead!? That's…great!" Lin's sorrowful tears turned into tears of happiness when Chihiro nodded. Just then the elevator stopped, and Lin pulled Chihiro out onto the floor, letting several other people in in their place.

"Um, Lin, you aren't really taking me to see Kosuke, are you?" Chihiro asked nervously. She had been too busy conversing with Lin to see if the elevator had been going up or down, but it didn't really matter.

"Oh course not," Lin replied. "Do you think I'd do that? No, we're going to Kamaji. Maybe he'll know where to find Haku." Chihiro sighed in relief as she was pulled through several hallways, down a few flights of stairs, and past several curious workers. Did that many people really remember her?

Lin slid back the door to Kamaji's boiler room and pulled herself through before turning to help Chihiro in. Chihiro jumped down from the small sliding slot and closed the slot before she turned to greet Kamaji.

Brown eyes met stunning emerald green eyes.

Chihiro felt the wet tears side down her face, and then she flung herself into Haku's empty arms. Haku wrapped his arms around her in a silent apology. Lin started crying as well, and she joined the embrace. Kamaji watched from his perch up on his pedestal. Chihiro pulled back and slapped Haku across the cheek.

"How dare you leave me like that? Do you know how much I panicked when I got back to the clearing and Akito and Yuri asked me where _you _were? That's low, Haku, really low! I told you I wanted to come with you to the Spirit World, but you still ignored me! Jeez, did you ever think how much I would worry? Did the possibility of me following you cross your mind? Obviously not, because you're here! You, you, you IDIOT! That must have been the stupidest thing you've ever—"

Haku cut Chihiro off with a passionate kiss. Chihiro started to succumb to the kiss, but she remembered her tirade a moment earlier and pulled away, a bit unwillingly. Haku had a guilty expression on, and a bit of her anger ebbed away into a more forgiving emotion.

"I'm very sorry I didn't want to include you. Chihiro, I just didn't want you to get hurt," Haku said, resting his forehead against hers. "I told you that, but you don't seem to listen to me very well." Haku wiped away one of Chihiro's tears with his thumb, and Chihiro smiled weakly at him.

"That didn't mean you had to go off and leave me without any warning!" Chihiro argued weakly.

"Yes, but then you'd want to go with me, and I didn't want to be the one to tell you no!" Haku shot back. He sounded like such a child in Chihiro's mind.

"So you had her come here all by herself?" Lin asked angrily, butting into the two's conversation. "Look at her, Haku! She's covered in mud and blood! Not to mention she could have gotten caught by Kosuke if I hadn't found her first!"

Haku took a better look at Chihiro and felt his stomach lurch. It was true she had blotches of dry blood on her shins and ringlets around her wrists. Her hair was damp, as though she had taken a super quick shower, and it was tangled a bit in the back, where her ponytail hung over her shoulders. Not to mention the lack of shoes on her tiny feet…

"Look at you, Chihiro, how have you grow!" the raspy voice of Kamaji said. The boiler man seemed to have aged several years in the few months she had been gone. Chihiro stood up and ran to him, grasping him in a tight hug.

"Kamaji! It's so great to see you!" Chihiro said as she squeezed the old man. Kamaji chuckled and patted Chihiro on the back.

"Now that you've seen all of your old friends, would you like to tell us what's going on?" Lin demanded. Her temper was still flaring, but at least it wasn't being directed to Haku.

"I was just explaining to Kamaji how I had a few of the spirits help me stage a fake death so that I could go to the Human World to get Chihiro, thinking she would be able to help us overthrow Kosuke. Unfortunately, once I met up with Chihiro, I realized how much I…" Haku hung his head and took a deep breath to calm himself. The three others waited patiently, but two of the three already knew what he was going to say.

"Come on, Haku, you can say it!" Chihiro, the oblivious one, encouraged. She kneeled on the ground next to him and stared at him intently, giving him her undivided attention.

"Well, I realized how much I loved you, Chihiro," Haku said softly. "I didn't want you to come back here, fearing that Kosuke might make you stay here to work like a slave, or that he might hurt you physically as well as mentally." Haku took Chihiro's hands into his own and kissed Chihiro on the lips lightly to emphasize his point.

Chihiro accepted the kiss and sat still, brain still processing those three words. _I love you_…

"Hey, Haku, what are you and Chihiro planning on doing while you're here? Like, what's you guys' plan?" Lin asked, unphased by the confession Haku had just given. Any other couple might have surprised her, or made her tear up, but Haku and Chihiro were so totally made for each other everyone in the bath house had agreed they would end up together. It was unanimous.

"Well, we don't really have a plan," Haku admitted. "We had a hard thinking of one, so I decided that when I came here_ alone_, I would wing it."

"Dummy," Chihiro murmured. "Like I'd let you go on any dangerous mission alone after what you just said." Chihiro wrapped her arms around Haku and hugged him tightly, burying her face into his shoulder.

"Chihiro," Haku argued stubbornly, "I'm going to tell you this only once, and if you don't listen to me, I don't know what I'll do with you! I want you to stay here with Lin and Kamaji where it's safe, and I'm going to confront Kosuke up in his office. I can always turn into my dragon spirit form to fight him if it comes to it. I know you're encouraging me, but that's all I want you to do. Encourage me, and stay out of trouble."

Haku gave Chihiro one last kiss, this time on the cheek, and then he stood up to climb through the sliding door. "Be careful you guys, and take care of her," he said, addressing Kamaji and Len. Both gave silent nods, and then Haku was through the sliding door, making his way up to the top suite.

Chihiro was still sitting when Haku left. Everything was happening to fast to her, and it was making her dizzy. She barely heard the words her sweetheart said to Lin and Kamaji. The sense of dread that she had had while walking to the clearing earlier was making its reappearance. Something bad was going to happen, and Chihiro felt that she was a hopeless case against it.

Maybe…maybe, her intuition would be wrong just this one time.

----just…maybe---

Okay, sorry if this is short or whatever, but I had to type it up on my mom's laptop, and a bunch of her keys are broken and stuff, so I have to take extra time to hit them extra hard and crap so I don't have to go back and fix tons and tons of mistakes. Oh, also, I usually use wordpad, but she didn't have it on her comp, so I'm using Microsoft, and it is so much different!

Plz review! I would definitely wuvvle you if you did!


	8. Chapter 8

Woohoo! I am exuberant! I like, just went to youth group for the first time in like, forever! Still typing on the laptop, but I'm slowly getting used to it! I still don't like the Microsoft program though. It's just annoying.

Um, by the way, I OWN NOTHING!!! I don't own, I PWN.

---pwnith---

Chihiro sat on the ground in the boiler room for a while, barely listening to the comforting words Kin and Kamaji sent her way. She wanted to get up and follow Haku up to the top suite, but her legs were frozen in their crouched position. She remembered when Haku had cast a spell on her to unfreeze her legs once after he had given her a bit of food so that she wouldn't disappear. His hands had hovered above her legs, whispering secret, magic words under his breath. She missed those times, really. She hadn't been concerned for other people's safety, only hers and those closest to her. Even if it was selfish, it kept things a lot less complicated. But now…

She was in love. There was no doubt about it, she was madly, deeply, passionately in love. And it was causing her more problems than she could count.

Chihiro felt a tear slip out of her chocolate brown eyes, running down her pale face only to drop onto her already damp clothes. Lin tutted softly, and then left the room to get the small girl a pair of dry clothes. Kamaji's little dust balls came out to comfort her, making their little noises and climbing over her feet in an attempt to get close to her face. One of the little soot balls actually got as far as her knee before she picked it up gently and nuzzled it, getting a little smudge of black soot on her face in the process.

"You really shouldn't worry, Chihiro," Kamaji said as he took a sip of the cold tea Lin had brought him several hours earlier. "Haku is a big boy, he is well able to take care of himself. Besides, Haku has the advantage of being a spirit, while Kosuke is an ordinary human."

"Kosuke is a human, like me?" Chihiro asked, shocked. "Haku didn't tell me that! But if Kosuke is only a human, then why are all the spirits taking orders from him and stuff? Are they more powerful than he is?"

"Well," Kamaji began, "it seems Kosuke has his own little secrets. No one's been able to confirm it, but there are small rumors that he has a spell protecting him in one way or another. Remember the spell Zeniba put on her golden seal? It's just about the same spell, with a few minor changes to adjust the protection to that of a person's life, instead of just a valuable object."

"Oh, I see," Chihiro said. Her head was spinning from all of the day's events. Lin chose the next moment to reappear with a bundle of clothes in her arms.

"Here, Chihiro change into these, before you catch a cold. Then Haku'd really have my head!" Lin laughed nervously as she handed the clothes to Chihiro. Chihiro accepted the small bundle and cuddled the cloth as though it was relieve her of some of her stress.

"Hey Lin," Chihiro asked softly, "did anyone notice Haku when he left to go up to the top suites?"

Lin thought a moment before responding. "No, I don't think so. Nobody was saying anything, so I guess he just slipped by unnoticed." The brunette shrugged casually, and then beckoned for Chihiro to follow her. "Come on, really. Change into the clothes and then we'll check up on the rumors to see if anyone caught a glance of him."

Chihiro suddenly felt her anger rising, and she dropped the clothes as though they might burn her. "What? So you are only going to listen around? You aren't going to help him at all? For all we know he could be up there with Kosuke standing over him ready to deal the final blow!" Chihiro broke out into more tears, and she pushed past Lin. "I'm going to help him, whether you like it or not!"

"Chihiro, no!" Lin yelled, but it was too late. The girl was already running up the first flight of stairs, sprinting as fast as she could to get to the love of her life. Chihiro didn't even look behind her to see if Lin was following her, and she completely ignored the shocked workers as she ran by them, not caring if she helped to dump over a load of trays in her haste. All that mattered was that she get to that damned elevator!

"What do you think you're doing?" an angry voice asked as the owner of the voice reached out to grab Chihiro by the arm. Chihiro cried out and wrestled away from the strong grip, stumbling a bit as her legs tangled in an attempt to keep moving forward. Then she was off again, rushing past spirits and workers that made attempts to stop her. Most of the sprits there were cheering her on, and a few got in the way of workers so that Chihiro could pass without difficulty. Reaching the elevator, Chihiro was glad to see that a few of the spirits had guarded it, making sure that she wouldn't have to wait to ascend into the upper floors.

Jumping into the elevator, Chihiro thanked the spirits and pushed the lever to go up. The spirits waved as she disappeared out of their sight. Chihiro sank to the floor of the elevator, giving her legs a chance to rest and remove the lactic acid from her muscles. She had been on the lowest floor, so it would take a few minutes for the slow elevator to reach the top floor. A few minutes that – in Chihiro's eyes – she didn't have. Hideous images ran through her mind: images of what she might find when she located Haku and Kosuke.

Finally, the elevator jolted to a stop. Chihiro jumped up and ran out of the open doors, and into the corridor fancily decorated with gold and multicolored trim and paint. Chihiro ignored the creepy statues lined up along the walls, and the portraits that hadn't been in the hallway the last time she had visited the floor. She proceeded more carefully now, glad she wasn't wearing any shoes. Her small feet ran over the carpet, muffling any sound she made. Now that she was so close, she could hear a conversation being held. Ha! "Conversation" made it sound civilized. Chihiro could hear two males' voices shouting back and forth, occasionally quieting down to take on a haunting, mocking, tone of voice.

Following the voices, Chihiro was led through several open doors, and down dozens of hallways. She began to wonder if she wasn't just going in circles, but finally a light caught her eye in the poorly lit corridor. Stepping out of the beam off light, Chihiro walked even more carefully, and when she got to the light, she found it was really the light coming from inside an open doorway. Peeking behind the door, Chihiro was terrified at what she saw.

Haku was backed up against a wall, and Kosuke had his hand right at the boy's throat. Chihiro could only see Kosuke's back, but she could tell he was portly, with chubby, short legs and a balding head. Chihiro's shaking form hit the open door slightly, and the betraying slab of wood squeaked, opening a few more inches. Both males turned to look at her, and Chihiro felt her silent sobs earn their voices.

"H-Hak-ku," she sobbed, hands clasped at her heart, back bent and eyes closed so that she didn't have to see the scene before her.

"Chihiro," Haku said softly, able to speak because Kosuke's grip on his throat had lessened considerably. Kosuke turned abruptly and studied the sobbing girl in the doorway.

"I take it this is your lover, Haku," the portly man asked, acting much more civilized than he had been moments before.

"Yes, and you will not touch her," Haku said, stepping forward. "Chihiro's being here was not intended, and if any harm comes to her, I'll make sure you pay for it. Whether you are the cause or not, what you have been doing to the workers of the bathhouse is unforgivable. Even the spirits are enjoying their stays less and less."

"That's not my fault!" Kosuke snapped. "If the workers don't do their jobs, I have to punish them. It's my job as their boss."

"Yes, but I can find two things wrong with your explanation. One: the workers are doing a fine job, and they have no need to be punished. Two: you aren't their boss! Boh is the real heir to the bathhouse, you're just some cheap imitation! A poser!"

Chihiro heard the loud slap and started crying louder. Her tears ran down her face and dripped off, pooling on the cool tiles underneath her. Kosuke seemed to be annoyed by her crying, because he turned away from Haku, who was on the floor holding his cheek, and reprimanded her.

"You shut up, you filthy wench! I don't know how the likes of you got into this refined bathhouse, but I can assure you it'll never happen again." Kosuke made a move to walk towards Chihiro, but Haku's words rang out, loud and clear.

"Touch her and they won't be able to identify your remains." Haku was still on the ground, and he glared at Kosuke's back from his vantage point. Haku's left cheek was a sharp pink color, contrasting his black hair and normally pale skin. Despite Haku's threats, however, Kosuke kept walking. When he reached Chihiro, he pulled her up by her ponytail, causing a cry of pain to escape from the girl's lips.

"Kosuke! Let her go!" another voice yelled from the same doorway Chihiro had just entered through. Haku's gaze shifted and his eyes widened.

"A-Akit-to?" Chihiro, pain temporarily forgotten. Her eyes widened at the sight of her fellow classmate. "Where's Yuri?" she asked weakly, not really wanting to hear the answer.

"Chihiro!" Akito shouted, not really answering the girl's question. Switching tones for a more dramatic affect, Akito growled, "Let go of her Kosuke. She's mine to deal with. Go take care of the dragon boy." Akito nodded towards Haku, and Chihiro's eyes widened. She flung herself at Akito, kicking and punching him until Kosuke grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms behind her back and pulling her too far away to effectively kick anyone, including himself.

"No! I won't let you hurt Haku! You can't hurt him! I'LL KILL YOU BEFORE YOU HURT HIM!" Everyone in the room was shocked by the amount of hatred and contempt in Chihiro's voice, but she wasn't done quite yet.

"You all are worried about others, telling them to stay away so that they won't get hurt. But you aren't thinking! What if you never come back again? If the other person was there…they'd see you, even if was your last living moments. They'd be there for you, so that you didn't have to be alone. Or they would celebrate with you if the whole goal of the "mission" was completed. You'd think people would keep their loved ones close, never knowing…spending each moment with each other, and cherishing each moment. You never know when your loved one might be lost…so you have to cherish…every…second…"

Chihiro collapsed, probably exhausted from the day's activities. Kosuke caught her and lowered her gently to the ground, and everyone else realized how awkward the silence was in the room.

"She's right, as usual," Akito said. "Loved ones should always stay close to each other." Addressing Haku, he asked, "I take it you wanted her to stay out of harm's way?" Haku nodded slowly. "Yeah, well, you have a lot to learn about Chihiro. She doesn't take nonsense from anyone, and if she loves that person, her determination is doubled."

"I know that," Haku said quietly, watching Chihiro's form breathe slowly, "I just didn't want to accept it. It would be so much easier to not have to think about her safety constantly, but I just can't help it."

Akito shrugged. "Eh, you're obviously in love with her." Haku tried to send the boy a withering look, but he soon sighed and his face contorted back to one filled with concern. Akito chuckled, and walked forward to put a comforting hand on Haku's shoulder. "Don't worry, even if my dad says he'll do something, it rarely happens."

Haku's eyes widened, and he looked at Kosuke. "Kosuke's your _father_?" he asked incredulously. Kosuke sneered back at Haku, taking a chance to put in his two cents.

"I may be his biological father, but I absolutely _will not_ acknowledge him as my son," Kosuke said, folding his chubby arms over his even fatter chest. Akito sighed and rubbed the back of his head, letting go of Haku's shoulder.

"Well, this is quite a mess we're in," Haku said quietly. Chihiro was laying unconscious on the floor right in front of Kosuke, Akito was Kosuke's son, meaning he'd probably side with him in a fight, and Haku had no clue how to get Chihiro out of harm's way and at the same time claim the bathhouse as independent from this tyranny.

"Chihiro! Haku! Chihiro, where the heck are you?" Haku sighed, an angel in the form of an annoying bathhouse worker.

"Lin, we're in here," Haku shouted, and a moment later the woman appeared in the same doorway Chihiro had.

"Oh my gosh, what happened to Chihiro?" Lin asked, eyeing the small girl on the floor and then the ring of men around her.

"I'll explain later, just come and get her," Haku said patiently. Kosuke blinked and then put a foot on Chihiro's stomach, threatening to step on her.

"Come any closer and I'll make sure this girl needs surgery in the morning!" the older man threatened, stopping Lin in her tracks.

"Kosuke," Akito began carefully, "let the worker girl take Chihiro away. Once she's away, Haku will be able to fight properly. Until then, however, Haku will not fight, and you will not be able to show him your awesome powers." Kosuke seemed to think for a moment, and then decided that Akito had some reasoning in him. Lowering his foot back onto plain ground, Kosuke grunted, signaling Lin to rush forward and pick up Chihiro. Haku watched with sadness in his eyes as his love was carried away, probably back to Kamaji's boiler room.

Akito watched and waited, and when he guessed both girls were at the elevator by then, he turned to face the other males in the room. "Alright then," he said. "Let's get this started, shall we?"

---fight---

So? How was it? Please review to tell me how it was! I think this might be the shortest chapter, but I can't really tell. I think I'm notorious for short chapters and complicated plots. Oh yeah, how many of you were surprised about the whole Kosuke/Akito thing? That's the main reason I slipped to you guys that they were both OC (I think I actually told you Akito was the OC, but left out Kosuke. My bad!) and that both had an important role. Yeah, like I said, my bad.

So, please review! We're only a chapter or two from the end of the story, so I'm exuberant! After this I can work on my other stories!


	9. Chapter 9

Ah, geez, I'm really sorry I haven't updated in so long! I can't seem to find my already started chapters for my Death Note fic and the other one I was working on...what was it called again? I dunno. So, I really REALLY didn't want to write a fight scene cause I'm not really good at those sorts of things, but I'll do my best. It really is my first ever fight scene, so please tell me how I did in your ever-welcome reviews!

---fight!---

Akito turned to face Haku and his father. "So, it's finally come down to this?" he asked wistfully, stepping forward. "I knew that you were going to come here, Kohaku, but I never guessed you'd involve sweet, innocent Chihiro." Haku grimaced and clenched his hands, deciding not to honor the boy's sentence with a reply. "Really, what _were _you thinking? Did you think that stupid girl could really do anything to help you? She's really so worthless. When my father sent me to her school to watch over and observe her, I found her to be an interesting specimen at first. Later, I realized she was totally worthless. I can't see any good qualities in her whatsoever. What is it you see in her, Kohaku? It can't be her looks, her brains, or anything of the sort. Maybe are you obliged to show her love, because of what Yubaba did to her parents? Maybe you wanted to give her your fake love to make up for the loss of her parents' love while they were pigs, and eventually that fake love became real?"

Haku ground his teeth together. He was _beyond_ angry now. Who did this guy think he was, bad-mouthing Chihiro like that, right in front of his face? But Akito wasn't done. "I honestly thought that I could create some sort of bond with her, and hopefully I would love her through that bond. Looks like now all I can use her for is a little pleasure release, if you know what I mean." Akito winked at Haku, and Kosuke laughed.

Haku clenched his hands even harder, drawing blood form the palms of his hands. "Hah, that's funny. You act as though you own her. Too bad you actually have to have a life to even get close," Haku hissed. Akito raised an eyebrow, and Kosuke stepped forward to punch Haku in his back, but Akito raised a hand to stop his father.

"You know, Kohaku, I _also _hoped that we could be friends. But then again, you just _had_ to go and get on our bad side," Akito sneered and nodded his head, a silent signal for his father to begin his attack.

Haku felt his hands being pinned behind his back, and he felt warm blood run down his palms and drip off onto the floor behind him. While he was distracted with trying to get loose, Akito ran and punched him in the gut, doubling him over onto the floor. Kosuke let go of Haku's arms and kicked him down on the floor until the boy was laying spread-eagled. Haku glared up at the other two men, but made no movement.

"What's this Kohaku? Giving up already? Have you finally realized that Chihiro is just a worthless piece of junk?" Akito mocked. Haku's glare became icy cold, and Akito was actually fearful for a moment.

"No," Haku began calmly, "But I would like to propose an idea. If you hand over the bath house to Boh and let Chihiro leave back to the Human World in peace, I'll do anything you want me to."

Akito looked at his father, and then back at Haku. "Anything?" he asked, almost incredulously. "Even...take your own life?"

"Yes," Haku confirmed. "I said I'd get the bath house back into the right hands, even at the cost of my own life."

Akito rubbed his chin in thought. "I don't know...how are you sure we'd let Chihiro go home once we killed you?"

Kosuke let go of Haku altogether and shook his son by the shoulders, shouting, "Don't tell me you're thinking of letting go of the bath house?! After all we went through to gain its power, you are thinking of handing it back with the cost of one measly life?" Akito narrowed his eyes and pushed his father back, making the older man stumble over Haku's out-stretched legs.

"You shut up, old man! I can't believe you haven't figured it out by now! I'm just using you! All of you! I pretended to play along with your stupid little games, going to the school to spy on Chihiro, helping you siege the bath house...I never planned to let you take control of anything, old man! In fact, I think I'll kill you right now!" Akito's eyes were practically glowing red with bloodlust as he advanced towards his father, the said backing up at an alarming rate, until he was up against the back wall. Kosuke's brow was covered in sweat, and his hands and head were shaking as if to plead with his son to spare his life.

"A-Akit-to, n-now, think t-this over, s-son! Y-You w-w-wouldn't k-kill your old m-man, w-would you?" Kosuke's blabbering seemed to anger Akito even more, and the youth quickened his pace. Pulling out a pocket-knife from his jeans, Akito grinned wickedly as he jabbed the sharp object at his father's throat.

"I did all the work, while you sat back and relaxed. I'm the one who discovered the Spririt World, who uncovered the hidden potentials, and all you did was sit on your lazy bum! I should kill you for being such a lazy fag, and yes, I will. I'll kill you. Are you ready? I'm going to kill you now, okay?" Akito's voice got increasingly manic, and Kosuke's shivering and shaking increased to its maximum. Akito raised the knife to Kosuke's throat, and with one long, strong slash, the deed was done. Kosuke's body fell to the floor, doubled over at the waist.

"Heh, even in death he still manages to fall on his fat ass," Akito snorted, eyeing the corpse with contempt. Haku stood, horrified and a bit shocked that a son would even do such a thing to his father, even if the father was as bad as Akito described. Akito spun on his heels, now facing the still slightly shocked Haku. "Now, it's time to finish you off. I will not let you have this bath house! Not until I'm dead, like my damned father!" Akito raised the knife threatingingly and charged Haku, ready to jab at the boy's stomach.

As Akito was charging him, Haku got a good look into the boy's eyes. They were red, like the spilled blood that was now seeping onto the floor under Kosuke's dead body. Haku shuddered, imagining himself in such a state. Quickly dodging Akito's attack, Haku tried desperately to think of a plan. If he could get Akito severely worked up, maybe the boy would charge blindly, and Haku would be able to interpret his moves more easily.

"So, you honestly thought you could take over the bath house and not have someone take it back?" Haku daunted, trying to find a touchy subject. "Even with your father's help, I'm sure you couldn't have figured out a better plan."

Akito stopped at the edge of the room, twirling around again to charge Haku another time. The boy was absolutely crazy; there was no other word for it. Haku was starting to see a little white foam at the edge of his mouth from running and swinging the pocket knife so hard. "What's it to you?" the boy snarled. Now he just absolutely fit the part of a rabid, wild wolf who was trying to fight for its life but failing miserably.

"Just you watch. I'll take back the bath house _and_ I'll save Chihiro. You can't stop me. You're just a stupid human boy that doesn't know what he's getting into," Haku snarled back, ready to turn into his dragon form. That pocket knife, though it looked somewhat innocent, was getting a little too close to his body with each charge.

"Hah!" Akito scoffed, aiming a kick for Haku's head, "I'd like to see that day! Maybe the world would end, too!"

Haku blocked the kick and fully transformed, flying up to the ceiling so that he had room to manuever. Akito watched with wary and cautious eyes as the dragon spirit hovered above him. Haku was waiting, and he didn't have to wait long. The full effect of Akito's attacks began to take their toll on him, and the human boy fell to his knees, aching all over. While he had been fighting, the adrenaline in his bloodstream had kept the pain at bay, but now the muslces had nothing to numb them, and the pain was excruciating. Haku took advantage of his enemy's weakness and dove in, picking the boy up in his large mouth. Carrying the boy down the corridor, Haku took a shortcut through the air vend system and ended up outside the bath house.

Sometime later, while the two were still flying, Akito resumed his attack. He had managed to keep a hold on his knife, so he twisted in Haku's mouth, though the sharp teeth were unforgiving and ripped at his clothing and flesh, and attacked Haku's neck. Haku shook his head to discourage the attacks, but it didn't really matter anyway. Haku's scales stopped the metal from piercing through.

Soon after Akito's fervent attacks ceased, the two ended up at the entrance to the Human World. Haku flew as far as he could in his dragon form, and then transformed back into his human form. Picking up an unconscious Akito, Haku walked through the barrier. Before he left, Haku put a curse on Akito, forbidding his entrance into the Spirit World ever again. Then he left the boy under a tree out near the statue and turned back to head home. More importantly...

Back to Chihiro.

---curse---

Chihiro looked up at the sliding door to Kamaji's boiler room was opened. Haku rushed in, and Chihiro yelled, running over to him to wrap him up in a huge bear hug. Haku closed the door behind him before he gathered Chihiro up in his arms and kissed the girl passionately on the lips.

"Haku," Chihiro whimpered, breaking the kiss, "I didn't think you'd make it back unhurt."

Haku grinned, ruffling his love's hair. "What? You have absloutely no faith in me, do you?"

"Haku!" Lin said, rising from her seat on the floor. "I'm glad to see you're back. Does Boh know about the bath house?"

"Yes, I told him right before I came here," Haku said, looking away from Chihiro for only a moment.

"Finally," Kamaji said, extending one of his several arms to give Haku a pat on the back. "The bath house is back in good hands. Good job, m'boy." Haku nodded and accepted the praise before he turned his full attention to Chihiro. Holding the girl at arm's length, Haku looked her in the eye and said the words he had wanted to say for the past 3 months, if not longer.

"Chihiro, after today I've realized a lot of things. I've known this ever since I met you, but I love you, and I always want to stay beside you. Nothing can defeat the love I have for you, and I would gladly give my life to save yours." Chihiro's eyes widened a bit at this point, and Haku made a note to reword that saying later on. "If you would, I would like to take your hand in marriage, so that all shall know that you are mine."

"Um, Haku...I'm only 13," Chihiro said a little nervously. (Pretend with me here!) Obviously, she had never been proposed to before.

"That doesn't matter!" Lin piped up. "If you get married here in the Spirit World, those silly social laws and cliques and such...all those things you had to be careful of when you were in the Human World wouldn't apply here!"

Chhiro's eyes widened a fraction more. "Get married...in the Spirit World?" she questioned, looking from Lin to Haku and back again. Haku's eyes were warm when he replied.

"Yes, whatever you would like. It's all up to you, of course."

Chihiro's eyes began to water,and she flung herself into Haku's chest. "Yes!" she sobbed. "Yes! I want to stay with you forever too, Haku! I want to stay by Lin, and Kamaji, and Boh...all of my good friends..." Chihiro began to snifle as she thought about her "good friends" back in the Human World. "But...what about Yuri and the others? They all loved me like a sister..."

"We can always go back to invite them to the wedding. You know, humans can come here as long as they know where the entrance is. They could even come and spend the summer here or something, while school is out," Lin suggested.

"You do need bridesmaids and such for the wedding, after all!" Kamaji said in a joking manner.

Chihiro looked up at Haku's warm, happy face. "Could we really do that? Please, please? With a cherry on top?"

"Of course," Haku said, smiling. The dragon held Chihiro close and the two hugged, both thinking about their engagement and the days to come.

_Of course, Chihiro. You must understand this..._

_I'd do __**anything**__ for you._

---wedding---

Yay for crappy endings! Well, I guess that's it. ::scratches head:: When did this come to an end, really? I guess...I just have to say thanks for reading and please review!

That wasn't much of a fight scene was it? Nope...it wasn't. So sorry I disappointed you all! Just tell me how you liked it!


End file.
